








•;i<:,'ir'j*!fy 






•f^(o 




IN JAPAN. 







PIIILADELPHIA 






MY 



LAST CRUISE 



WHERE WE WENT AND WHAT WE SAW: 



BBING AN ACCOUNT OF 



VISITS TO THE MALAY AND LOO-CHOO ISLANDS, THE COASTS 

OF CHINA, FORMOSA, JAPAN, KAMTSCHATKA, SIBERIA, 

AND THE MOUTH OF THE AMOOR RIVER. 



^ / 

A. W. HABERSHAM, 

LIEUT. U. S. NAVY, 
AND LilB OP THE NOBIH PACIFIC SURVEYING AND EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 



PHILADELPHIA: 
J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 

1857. 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1857, by 

J. B. LIPPINCOTT & CO. 

in the Clerk's OfSce of the District Court of the United States for the Eastern District of 
Pennsylvania. 






5i 



> 



TO 



®lte (PUm0t[j 



MY BKOTHER OFFICERS 



WHO PERISHED IN THE UNFOKTUNATE 



BRIG-OF-WAR PORPOISE. 



PREFACE. 



One of the most prolific sources of loss to the 
merchant, and, through him, to the world at large, 
exists in the incorrectness of many of the charts by 
which his ships are sailed. There are also many 
coasts of which we have no charts at all, and there 
are various currents with whose strength and direc- 
tion we do not pretend to be acquainted. 

Besides, there are some few branches of our com- 
mon family of whom we know little or nothing, and 
there is also a vast extent of the earth's surface yet 
awaiting the first pressure of the explorer's foot. 

To test the accuracy of charts extant, to prepare 
others of unknown coasts, to follow the trackless 
path of the wayward current, to lift the veil that 
hung between civilization and the customs and habits 
of isolated tribes and nations, and to collect data 
from unfrequented parts of our globe for the advance- 
ment of science, the Government of the United 

^ 5 



b PREFACE. 

States sent out the North Pacific Surveying and 
Exploring Expedition; and the following pages are 
simply intended to show where it was that we went, 
and what it was that we saw, while engaged in the 
attainment of these objects. 

And now, in presenting them to the public, I ad- 
vance but one claim to its approbation : i.e. their 
contents, though limited, and confined mostly to 
personal observation while serving successively on 
board of several vessels of the squadron, are strictly 
matter-of-fact, and, though slightly coloured by the 
excitement of feeling consequent upon my having 
participated in most of the scenes of peril and ad- 
venture which they will be found to contain, yet is 
the colouring honest, and not at all calculated to 
impart incorrect impressions. 

The Author. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. 

FAQi; 

Introduces the reader to the Expedition, and carries him to the Cape 
of Good Hope ; after which he is taken back to the Cape-De Verde 
Islands, and from thence again to the Cape of Good Hope 13 

CHAPTER II. 
We receive a visit which is not intended to inquire after our health, and 
make the acquaintance of " Lieutenant Paget, R.N. ;" after which the 
purser and myself "smell a rat" and fire at a catbird, to the infinite 
terror of some Hottentot women 23 

CHAPTER III. 
We make up a party to visit Cape Town, and take our seats in a chai-iot 
— ^We read poetry in four languages, and thiak that it must be a fine 
thing to be a Mormon — ^We make the acquaintance of an eager gen- 
tleman, and conceive a high idea of the hospitality of Cape Town 37 

CHAPTER IV. 
We leave Simon's Town and sail for Batavia, where we receive a visit 
that does relate to our health, and see a remarkable gun ; after which 
we listen to several astonishing accounts from an English resident, 
and again put to sea 54 

CHAPTER V. 

We reach Gaspar Straits, and commence our survey by firing a gun — I 
am ordered on temporary duty, which lasts four months and enables me 

7 



» CONTENTS. 

PAOB 

to visit Singapore — Vast preparations of an alarmist to receive pirates, 
and the way in •which vre learned the meaning of the Malay word 
«'man-ar-r" 74 

CHAPTER VI. 
We are deserted by the Hancock and Kennedy, and find ourselves called 
upon to enjoy a moonlight walk, which proves to be so pleasant that 
we continue the exercise for two days — We visit a Malay village, and 
are cautioned against the ferocity of Chinese dogs 92 

CHAPTER VII. 

We arrive at Hong-Kong, and find more repairs wanted — Commander 
Ringgold returns to the United States in bad health, and Lieutenant- 
Commanding John Rodgers takes the command of the Expedition — 
Something about human life and ducks in China, and how we were 
liberally entei'tained by the foreign merchants of Canton 113 

CHAPTER VIII. 

How we talked of " visiting Pekin by water," and how the " old John" 
and Cooper were pressed into the corps diplomatique — How an old, 
tub amused herself by rolling her masts out, and how a New- York 
pilot-boat weathered a gale — How we visited the great city of Fou- 
Chow-Foo, and how we saw cormorants catching fish 127 

CHAPTER IX. 
We arrive at Shanghae, whence we sail with the commissioners for the 
Pi-ho — We pass over the Yellow Sea in fine style, anchor in sight of 
the mouth of the Pi-ho, and send in the smaller vessels — We fail to 
"reach Pekin by water," and return in disgust to Shanghae, where 
the old John's engine "runs down" 143 

CHAPTER X. 

We hear a distressing rumour and are greatly dispirited — We are re- 
quested by the merchants of Shanghae to attack a piratical squadron, 

.-:,,and evince a praiseworthy readiness for action — The "old John" 
astonishes the Chinese of the Wan-chew River, after which she visits 
Formosa and liberates two Chinese convicts 159 



CONTENTS. y 

CHAPTER XI. 

PAQS 

Something about the Anakirima group of islands, and climbing hills — 
Also a word in regard to Loo-chooans, and two missionaries who 
resided among them, and how it was that we left Loo-choo and 
arrived in Japan 180 

CHAPTER XII. 

We land in Japan, and •visit a number of Americans and one Russian — 
" Mahomet and the mountain" differ as to the most pleasant direction 
for a stroll, and finally part company, to the evident annoyance of 
the latter 203 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Something about buying and selling in Japan, and how they used Com- 
modore Perry's treaty to swindle us — Also, how they ask foreigners 
to let people enjoy their meals in quiet, and how a foreigner felt 
Unusually small 221 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Something about baths and bathing in Japan, and how they objected to 
our surveying their coasts — How we overcame their objections, and 
how Tatz-nosky took several long rides — How Bunsby discovered 
land, and how the "old John" crossed the Straits of T'Sugar 241 

CHAPTER XV. 

How brass buttons are valued in Japan, and how partridges are there 
transformed into singing-birds — How we visited a sea-god's temple, 
and how a German explorer preferred remaining outside — How some 
Americans leaned on Commodore Perry's treaty, and how it gave 
way under them 270 

CHAPTER XVI. 
We pass before the great city of Matsmai, to the wonder of the Japa- 
nese, continue to the northward along the west coast of the island of 
Jesso, beat a Japanese officer on the head, and finally arrive at the 
town of Tomari, where we have a good look at the Ainu, or "hairy 
Kuriles" — The last of Japan and the commencement of a heavy fog... 295 



10 CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XVII. 

PAGE 

We reach the peninsula of Kamtschatka, follow its west coast to the 
northward, and discover a coal-mine and a half-buried village — After 
which we prove a new-fashioned bootjack, and take a dip into the 
science of geology — We find that shower-baths are not always 
cleansing 317 

CHAPTER XVIII. 
We leave the coal-mine for a hunt, and encounter another party simi- 
larly engaged — We return with them to the village and are hospitably 
entertained — The headman not an advocate of the Maine liquor-law 
— How we "coaled ship," and how we ran a race with a flood-tide... 343 

CHAPTER XIX. 
We enter the Gulf of Penjinks and reach our highest northern latitude, 
after which we return to the Okotsk, and cross over to the coast of 
Siberia — We narrowly escape shipwreck, and finally arrive at a place 
called Ola, where we are regaled by the sight of bullocks and the 
taste of milk , 372 

CHAPTER XX. 

Some other things about " Ola," showing the reader how an old woman 
nearly lost her favourite milch-cow, and how they catch fish in that 
out-of-the-way part of the world, etc. etc. — ^We arrive at Fabius 
Island, Bay of Taousk, and regale ourselves upon whortleberries 393 

CHAPTER XXI. 

We visit Armen and buy turnips " by the patch," encounter a vitupera- 
tive gentleman and some very pretty young ladies, and return on 
board — After which we steam farther down the coast, pay a nocturnal 
visit to another settlement, and end by attempting to wade a Siberian 
ford 408 

CHAPTER XXII. 

We waylay a Siberian bear and narrowly escape "catching a Tartar;" 
after which we engage in a stampede, climb a very steep hill, and 
then descend again to our boat 426 



CONTENTS. 11 

CHAPTER XXIII. 

?AOE 

We arrive at Ayan and fall in with, some old acquaintances — After 
which we narrowly escape being feasted to death by the Russians, 
are told some "stunning" yarns, see a whale struck, and finally get 
safely to sea 449 

CHAPTER XXIV. 
We visit the Tschantar Islands, partake largely of wild rhubarb, and 
capture one of the inhabitants — After which we sail for the Amoor 
River, where we fall in with the boats of the Russian squadron, fail 
to pass through into the Gulf of Tartary, and finally return into the 
Okotsk Sea 483 

CONCLUSION. 
We commence our homeward-bound voyage and are stopped by a north- 
east gale, after which a westerly hurricane comes to our assistance 
and frightens the " old John" into unusual activity — We are attacked 
by the scurvy, arrive at San Francisco, and hear various kinds of 
news — The last of the '* old John," and an idea of the results of the 
cruise 495 



MY LAST CRUISE. 



CHAPTER I. 

INTEODUCES THE BBADBB TO THE EXPEDITION, AND CARRIES HIM TO THE 
CAPE OF GOOD HOPE ; AFTER "WHICH HE IS TAKEN BACK TO THE CAPE 
DB VEBDE ISLANDS, AND FROM THENCE AGAIN TO THE CAPE OF GOOD 
HOPE. 

The United States Surveying and Exploring Expedi- 
tion to the E"ortli Pacific, China Seas, &c. &c. sailed from 
the port of l^orfolk on the 21st of June, 1853, and com- 
menced its wandering and perilous cruise. 

It was commanded by Commander Cadwallader Ring- 
gold, of the navy, and consisted of the five following 
vessels, viz. : — 

The sloop-of-war "Vincennes, (flag-ship,) of eight hun- 
dred tons, ten guns, and some two hundred men. 

The screw-steamer John Hancock, of five hundred and 
thirty tons, three guns, and seventy men. 

The brig-of-war Porpoise, of about four hundred tons, 
five guns, and some seventy men. 

The schooner J. Fenimore Cooper, of eighty-eight tons, 
one gun, and twenty men. 

And lastly, the store-ship John P. Kennedy, of five 

13 



14 AN EARLY BREAKDOWN. 

hundred and twenty tons, three guns, and forty men. 
On board of the last sailed the writer of the present 
volume. 

The first four of these vessels proceeded to Simon's 
Bay, Cape of Good Hope, via the island of Madeira, 
while the latter touched at the Cape de Verde Islands on 
her way to the same destination. On the 20th of Sep- 
tember we had all joined company at that extreme of 
Southern Africa, and were expecting soon to continue 
our voyage, when to our extreme chagrin it was an- 
nounced that every vessel of the squadron, with the 
exception of the little " Cooper," was in need of extensive 
repairs : we had been sent to sea in a miserably unsea- 
worthy condition. Of course these repairs were at once 
entered upon with energy and spirit ; but such was their 
extent, and such the difficulty of obtaining skilful work- 
men and proper material at that port, that it was not 
until the 9th of I^ovember that we once more found 
ourselves clear of the headlands and fairly pointed for 
the locale of our future work. 

The passage of the Kennedy as far as Porto Praya, 
Cape de Verde Islands, was remarkably pleasant, though 
presenting but two occurrences worthy of note. These 
were meteorological phenomena, the following descrip- 
tion of which I take from my journal under date of 
July 1 :— 

" The last two nights have each been remarkable for 
an interesting display of meteorological phenomena. The 
first of these, as seen night before last by Mr. Kennon, 
the master, consisted of a meteorite or fire-ball, which, 
commencing its flight in the vicinity of the constellation 



METEOROLOGICAL PHENOMENA. 15 

of the Scorpion, measured a segment of at least sixty 
degrees, and jB.nally exploded into a dozen or more 
burning fragments, each of which was distinctly observed 
obeying the laws of gravity. The light emitted during 
its flight, previous to the explosion, was a greenish blue 
of rare brilliancy, that pained the eye by its unexpected 
appearance and intensity of power, and illuminated our 
decks as effectually as if a blue-light had beeu burnt on 
each mast-head and yard-arm. At the time of its explo- 
sion it could not have been distant more than a mile, and 
yet he heard no attendant report. It was like the burst- 
ing of an immense rocket, and as the flaming fragments 
fell in curves towards the sea he listened in vain for the 
expected sound. 

" The second of these was seen by Captain Collins and 
myself last night, while the first watch was dragging to 
its close. 

" Though undoubtedly the most rare and singular of 
the two, it offered scarcely any ground for description. 
It was without motion, and wanted the beautifully-varie- 
gated colour of the former. It presented a most perfect 
representation of the human eye, though visible for not 
more than a second at the utmost. "We distinctly saw it 
contract and dilate twice during that limited period, im- 
mediately after which the lids, as it were, closed, and shut 
It out from view." 

What now was this phenomenon ? A comet without a 
train or more than a momentary existence ? A shooting 
star or meteorite without motion ? or an ignis faiuus in 
mid-heaven ? One more conversant with the stars than I 
must answer the question. * * * 



16 WATERING SHIPS. 

Upon our arrival at Porto Praja, on the 14th of July, 
we proceeded to get in a supply of wood and water ; while 
thus engaged, a limited opportunity only was offered us 
for making observations. I find the following remarks 
in my journal in regard to that port: — 

" Soon after letting go the anchor, we proceeded to raft 
our water-casks and tow them on shore, where we em- 
ployed negroes, the slaves of negroes, to fill them and float 
them out to the boats. And here let me say a word in 
regard to ' watering ship' at this and other similar ports. 

" The process, though not at all impracticable, is at- 
tended by many disagreeable, often fatal, drawbacks. On 
account of the heavy and constant surf which lines their 
coasts, boats can only land at particular points; and, when 
these points do not happen to be near a stream of fresh 
water, you have to land on the open beach. In this case 
it becomes necessary for boats with water-casks in tow to 
let go their anchors some distance outside of the surf, 
and then drop in towards this latter as far as is consistent 
with safety. The line by which the casks have been 
towed is then cast adrift, when the latter are quickly 
washed upon the beach, while the crew jump overboard, 
wade on shore, and roll them through the hot sand or 
over the slippery shingle to the watering-place. There 
they are filled, and, the bungs being tightly driven, they 
are rolled back to the beach, rafted together a second 
time, and finally towed back to the ship, where several 
men in a boat pass slings around them, hook on the yard- 
tackle, and they are hoisted on board. 

""We find but one small coasting-vessel at anchor, 
though the consul tells us that he has seen as many as a 



ROCELLA TINCTORIA. 17 

hundred from his parlour-window, most of which were 
whalers. "We are told that the only article with which 
ships are ever freighted from Porto Praya is a dye-wood, 
or rather dye-moss, if I may so call it. It is of the lichen 
family, grows upon the rocks and trees in the shape of a 
heavy, dense moss, and yields a rich purple colour. This 
colour, however, though beautiful beyond conception in 
its richness, is, unfortunately, not durable. For export it 
is bruised between stones and then combined with lime 
and urine. Its proper name is Rocella tinctoria, and the 
quantity annually exported does not exceed fifty or sixty 
tons a year. 

"Yesterday Captain Collins called away his gig, gave 
out that he was going on shore, and offered a passage to 
any of the mess who might feel like going along. So 
Purser Eitchie and myself took advantage of it, and were 
pulled to the landing. "We then indulged in a hot walk 
of twenty minutes along the beach and up the stony road 
of the bluff, and at the end of that time found ourselves 
in the roomy and well-ventilated apartments of, the Ame- 
rican Consulate. 

" There we looked around in vain for Mr. Morse, the 
acting consul, and finally settled down into his large arm- 
chairs and commenced to recover a reasonable amount 
of coolness ; after which we partook of his stone-filtered 
water, and, despairing of his speedy return, sallied out 
to accomplish the main object of our visit, — to see our 
washerwoman, and reimpress it upon her mind that our 
clothes must be on board before the hour of sailing. 

"The purser and myself were now walking through 
Porto Praya for the first time, while the captain, being an 



18 A REMARKABLE YOUNG LADY. 

old cruiser on the African station, guided us tlirougli the 
narrow and filthy streets. We observed that the houses 
were mostly built of rough stone, were two-storied, and 
possessed of a singularly-unfinished appearance. They 
had to me the look of houses that had been hurriedly 
built while the art of masonry was yet in its infancy. 

"I have said that the 'streets were narrow and filthy;' 
they were also disgraced by the shameless gambols of 
naked children of all colours, and the loitering presence 
of indolent, half-dressed adults of both sexes. One of 
the latter, a girl of at least fifteen, and clothed in the 
lightest 2:)ossible style, lounged by us with a bold and inqui- 
sitive stare, and without the least evidence of shame or 
attempt at concealment. 

"A walk of ten minutes through such streets and 
scenes as these took us to our journey's end, when we 
entered a half-finished house of rough stone-masonry, 
and were presented by the captain to three females, a 
mother and her two daughters, — old friends of his, and 
pro tern, our washerwomen. He introduced them jest- 
ingly as 'one of the first families of the place,' and gave 
as his reasons that the mother and her elder daughter 
slept on a bedstead that had been ordered all the way 
from Lisbon, and that the younger one had married the 
'military commander' of the place. This latter was a 
young African, an advocate of the long-cherished desire 
of some of our ultra abolitionists for the amalgamation 
of the African and Caucasian races, and was, I heard, as 
noble a specimen of the ' buck' order as one would wish 
to see. 

"I looked upon the olive complexion, the sparkling 



OLD IRONSIDES. 19 

eyes, and the delicate form of the negro's wife, and felt 
an involuntary prayer rise to my lips : — ' Lord, that such a 
revolting relationship may never exist in the great world 
that lies over the "Western waters.' She was the first 
white woman I had ever seen who had placed her hand 
in that of a thick-lipped, long-heeled negro. 

" We soon concluded our business and again continued 
our walk. We saw nothing more than has been written 
of by dozens of previous writers, and I will therefore step 
at once upon the beach on our return to the boat. We 
experienced a sense of indescribable relief as we left the 
dirty streets and thin half-clad occupants behind us, and 
drew long breaths of the freshening sea-breeze before it 
had been contaminated by their ever-exhaling miasma. 

" That night I kept the mid-watch ; and, while it was 
rolling slowly by, a ship's light made its appearance 
around the point to seaward, and shortly after the dark 
hull, lofty spars, and white sails of a frigate loomed 
through the surrounding gloom, holding her steady way 
across our stern. 

" ' Ship ahoy!' hailed a hoarse voice. 

" ' Hillo !' I answered. 

"'What ship's that?' 

"I gave our name, and the hoarse voice returned 
theirs. 

" She proved to be the United States frigate Constitu- 
tion; old Charles Stewart's bridge to his Kelson-like 
reputation, — 'Old Ironsides,' as she was affectionately 
called by those who had sailed in her over that glorious 
path. As she crossed our stern and rounded to on our 
quarter, she burnt a blue-light to satisfy herself as to the 



20 A FRIENDLY SWELL. 

locality, and slioue out, a noble specimen of the concen- 
tration of war's power on tlie sea, while the lambent flame 
lit up her double row of guns and brought out in bold 
relief her dark and heavy rigging. 

" The next day we talked with old friends; with mess- 
mates of bygone years. We talked of our wandering 
and perilous cruise, of the strange people we were going 
to see, of the lapse of time, and of our final return. We 
talked as if death were a thing of the past, as if there 
was no possibility of his striding through our midst and 
carrying away in his fleshless grasp hearts that then beat 
strong with youth and the glowing hope of that final 
return. We talked of all this, and of much more, and 
the next day again unfurled our sails to the friendly 
trade-wind, and urged our old ship from those barren 
shores. 

" The breeze falling light as we got away from the 
land, it took us two days to sink the peak of Fogo Island, 
which, with its elevation of nine thousand seven hundred 
and fifty-nine feet, offers a beautiful landmark to the 
navigator. At the end of this time, however, it sank 
slowly below the northern board, and we bade adieu to 
land until the Cape of Good Hope should break the even 
surface of a more southern horizon. Things now went 
on very smoothly until we had crossed the line and ran 
to the southeast trades, when we fell in with a heavy swell 
from that direction, which indicated a probable gale. 
Warned by this friendly forerunner, we were on our 
guard, and when it came it found us ready. Still, we had 
a hard time of it; we were as near foundering as was 
pleasant, and came out of it with the loss of our deck- 



AN OLD-FASHIONED SEA. 21 

load, — a heavy loss to the expedition, as it consisted of all 
our spare spars. 

"This gale itself was nothing remarkable: it was the 
really awful height and steepness of the seas that alarmed 
us. I look back to it now and wonder how we lived 
through it, and, as I wonder, I shudder. At one time we 
took on board such a sea that the old ship hesitated to 
lift it up ; had another followed it, we must have gone 
down. It was time to think of lightening her ; so we, at 
the risk of various broken legs, cut adrift the forty tons 
of deck-load, and managed to get it overboard at the cost 
of a single leg : the owner of that one, however, jnade 
noise enough to bring up the doctor without his hat, who 
soon abused him into silence, after which he splintered 
it with tender care, and got him comfortably stowed away 

in a cot. Poor H , rough of speech and tender of 

heart! "We lingered sadly under a granite shaft which 
rears itself over your narrow home in the unknown land 
of the Eastern heathen. 

"At the end of three days the weather moderated, 
after which we had a calm, and, finally, a fine breeze on 
the quarter : we made all sail and boomed away towards 
our longed-for port. 

"Ko one can tell how much we enjoyed the first day's 
moderating weather. "We had suffered so terribly during 
the gale from the effects of bilge-water that some of the 
mess had been thrown on the sick-list by it ; and, now that 
fair weather was returned, we knew its fumes would settle 
down with the sea. It had a fair sweep at us as long as 
the gale lasted; for, having to batten down all of the 
hatches, we were without both light and air; and when 



22 BILGE-WATER. 

the battens were at length removed, the hatches opened, 
and the cool, fresh ocean air, and the bright light of a 
sunny day permitted to enter our long-closed apartments, 
we found that our white-paint-work was entirely ruined. 
It was as black as ink, — a kind of bluish black, — and most 
unpleasantly damp and greasy to the touch. 

" Our first object was to get our bedding and clothes 
up on deck for an airing, and our second to get our mess 
and state-rooms as dry and free from bilge-water as 
possible. We therefore commenced breaking out our 
clothes ; and our horror may be imagined when we found 
that the blackening fumes had ruined most of our uni- 
forms, and had rendered unfit for use (previous to passing 
through the hands of the washerwoman) the greater part 
of our under-clothing. A cry arose as general as that 
which swelled through Egypt for the loss of the first- 
born: no one had escaped. Some of us lost hundreds of 
dollars from the efiects of the destroying effluvia; all had 
lost something. 

"In a few days another gale crossed our path, then 
another calm, then another fair wind: finally, we rubbed 
our eyes one fine morning and looked upon the blue out- 
lines of Africa's extreme southern point, and the next 
day we were well in with the land. Here we were again 
headed off by a three days' spell of bad weather, at the 
expiration of which we stood in for the harbour of Si- 
mon's Town, and were so fortunate as to pick up Mr. John 
Koutze, the pilot, v/ho took us into a snug anchorage just 
as another gale was beginning to sing through our rig- 
ging. "VYe were the first arrival : they knew nothing of 
the rest of the squadron." 



CHAPTER n. 

WE RECEIVE A VISIT WHICH IS NOT INTENDED TO INQUIEE AFTER OUR HEALTH, 
AND MAKE THE ACQUAINTANCE OF "LIEUTENANT PAGET, R.N.;" AFTER 
WHICH THE PURSER AND MYSELF " SMELL A RAt" AND FIRE AT A CATBIRD, 
TO THE INFINITE TERROR OF SOME HOTTENTOT WOMEN. 

We had scarcely let go our anclior when we were 
boarded by one of the boats of the English frigate, the 
officer of which stepped over the side as if he had lately 
suffered from an attack of rheumatism, or pride of birth, 
it was hard to say which. He introduced himself as 
Lieutenant Paget, Royal i^avy, and was immediately con- 
ducted down to the captain by the affable officer of the 
deck, with the intention of making him known. "We 
found the captain and doctor engaged in some general 
conversation, and I was just preparing to introduce my 
friend with a proper amount of empressevieni, when he an- 
ticipated me : — " Lieutenant Paget, sir, of the Royal Kavy. 
Happy to see you, sir. The admiral's compliments, — 
ahem ! ah ! — " 

'' Glad to see you on board. Lieutenant Paget. Permit 
me to present to you Dr. Hamilton," replied the captain, 
with one of his easy smiles. 

Kow, "Lieutenant Paget" must have thought that the 
captain took him for the port health-officer, or he must 
have been greatly wanting in politeness, — one of the two ; 
for, instead of shaking hands with the man of pills, or 

23 



24 ARRIVAL OF THE SQUADRON. 

noticing the introduction by the ramrod-like bow usual 
on sucli occasions, he gave an afiected start, and, in the 
drawling tone cultivated by many would-be high-bred 
Englishmen, observed, — " Ar-ar-r'ea-1-ly, but — ar-r, in fact, 
ar-r — I didn't come — ar-r — to inquire after the health." 
After which he indulged in a few quite commonplace 
remarks, drank a glass of wine, and was bowed over the 
side. The doctor subsequently remarked, in a confidential 
manner, that lie never in his life felt more like doing any 
thing than, at that moment, like knocking his confounded 
"ar-r-s" down his cockney throat: nevertheless, he con- 
trolled himself, and left the cabin in a high state of dis- 
gust with England, the English, and with Lieutenant 
Paget, Il.]Sr., in particular. 

Two days after our arrival, the Yincennes hove in sight, 
came in to her anchorage very prettily, and made signal 
for our captain to repair on board. Day after day they 
now dropped in ; first the little Cooper, then the Por- 
poise, and, finally, the old John Hancock. On the 20th 
of September we were again together. 

Then it was that we discovered the dilapidated condi- 
tion of our own vessel; while the Vincennes, Porpoise, 
and Hancock were each reported as being in want of 
repairs. "We commenced; and I think, before the last bill 
was sent in, the repairs of the "squadron" must have 
ranged as high as |20,000, and we just from the out- 
fitting care of the navy-yards of iN'ew York and ISTorfolk. 

While all this work was going on, and we necessarily 
detained in our sheltered anchorage. Purser Ritchie and 
myself one day took it into our heads to take a tramp 
over the hills in search of some unfortunate antelope, 



OLD BUST-PROOF. 25 

" iiiindreds" of wMch, we had been told, were easily to be 
found. . Stimpson, the energetic naturalist of the Viu- 
cennes, had also spoken of several flocks of quail; and we 
therefore looked forward to returning with any quantity 
of game. The purser had a shaky-looking seventeen- 
dollar American gun, that he had bought to destroy can- 
vas-back ducks with on the Chesapeake Bay some years 
back, and I was provided in pretty much the same style; 
the only difference being that mine had been bought 
several years later, and for onlj jifteen dollars. "We were 
jested unmercifully by the mess whenever we appeared 
with those dangerous weapons, and so always found it 
convenient to get off" upon our hunts as quietly as pos- 
sible. This being our first attempt, we were oft' our 
guard, and came in for an extra allowance : — 

"There go the two ITimrods! ITow we'll feast on 
game !" exclaimed a disagreeably-loud voice, — so loud 
that the whole mess were at once upon us. 

"Just see how the purser shoulders old bust-proof!" 
exclaimed a sarcastic voice. 

"Habersham, you'd better walk astern of old bust- 
proof: he'll go off backwards with the first heavy load," 
remarked a voice of friendly caution. 

"That wont make it any better for the purser," re- 
marked another. "Habersham's gun only cost ffteen 
dollars, and is warranted to shoot through both ends." 

Through these and similar salutations we ran the 
gauntlet of our admiring messmates, turned a deaf ear 
to all that we were not forced to hear, and, finally, found 
ourselves stowed away in the stern-sheets of the dingy 
and out of reach of their attentions. The dingy was 



26 DANGEROUSLY TIGHT TROUSERS. 

pulled by two very small boys encased iu very tight 
trousers, who got us on shore after a while by the 
greatest exertion, and then returned despondingly on 
board to repair damages. 

We at once made for the hill-side and commenced 
beating the bush for antelope with the most "new-broom"- 
like energy; and, to have seen us as we thus started, one 
would have thought that we were following a most 
reliable pointer, and that we were expecting a bird to 
rise under our noses at every step, so ready were our 
guns and so w^atchful were our eyes. As I now look 
back upon that tramp and recall its various drawbacks, 
it seems without exception the most disagreeable thing 
of the kind that I ever undertook. Such a total absence 
not only of game but even of animal life ! and such walk- 
ing as it was along the sides of those rugged hills ! I shall 
never forget the feeling of satisfaction with which I went 
to bed that night. 

Imagine the sloping side of a mountain-range three 
miles in length, covered by a thick undergrowth reaching 
up to one's shoulders; millions of loose round stones 
underfoot ; stationary rocks in the shape of o'erhanging 
clifis and huge boulders around and overhead; deep 
ravines every one or two hundred yards, running from 
the ridge to the sea, — a regular alternation of ridge and 
ravine; and imagine us walking over those loose stones 
which we could not see, and through those thick and 
tangled bushes which we could just see over, and one 
has a very fair idea of the "hard road" which we had to 
travel. And travel it we did, wdth a pelting rain and strong 
wind in our faces, and growing disgust in our hearts. 



FINE-CUT. 27 

After thus walking along the side of this rocky moun- 
tain for a mile or more, and just as disgust had grown 
about as strong as expectation, we stopped under the lee 
of one of the huge boulders, to draw a moment's breath 
and wonder where all the antelope could be, and where 
the ground was upon which Stimpson had started a flock 
of quail and killed ten of them. 

ISTow, while we were thus wondering without deriving 
the slightest satisfaction from it, we noticed a gentleman 
of Hottentot visage approaching us with a spy-glass in his 
right hand, through which he had probably long since 
satisfied himself as to the likelihood of our being persons 
who carried tobacco ; for he had no sooner joined us and 
made a polite bow, than he commenced to express him- 
self at some length in favour of the consumption of said 
article, and ended by indicating a perfect readiness on his 
part to accept a small piece of it, "if we happened to 
have any." The fact of this personage living in an Eng- 
lish colony will account for his speaking the language. 

I had a small tobacco-box in my pocket containing 
a quantity of John Anderson & Co.'s "fine-cut;" and 
that I offered freely, knowing how much one often longs 
for a single "chew," and hoping, moreover, to loosen the 
honest strings of his tongue in regard to the whereabouts 
of the game. 

I was right in both my impression as to his longing for 
a chew and as to the loosening of his tongue in regard 
to the game, though I cannot say much for the amount 
of honesty about this latter. He glanced doubtingly at 
the fine-threaded preparation at first, but had no sooner 
carried it to his nose than his whole face relaxed into a 



28 AN ADMIRER OF AMERICANS. 

confiding smile of the utmost complacency, under cover 
of which he put at least half of my supply into his capa- 
cious mouth, and was at once seized with a severe fit of 
coughing, the result of his being unacquainted with the 
particular knack of using that valuable but likely-to- 
choke-you luxury. Then, after recovering himself in a 
measure, and with a face that would doubtless have been 
red had \ it not been almost black naturally, he com- 
menced to tell us that " between the spot on which we 
stood and the house of Mr. John Koutze, the pilot, there 
was no lack of game, but that a great difficulty some- 
times existed in finding it; that he felt confident, how- 
ever, that, in spite of this difficulty, we could, by continu- 
ing our walk a mile or two farther, start up several 
spring-boke and any number of quail : he himself had 
just passed over the ground and seen several." He 
ended by telling us most emphatically, and with an air 
of great apparent candour, that "he liked Americans," 
and that we might thank our nationality for the informa- 
tion just received. Englishmen, he said, were " no good," 
but Americans — ah ! — he sighed a deep sigh, which, com- 
bined with a look, — such a look ! — was doubtless intended 
to produce another chew ; but the purser and myself had 
both been around Cape Horn already, and were now 
rounding that of Good Hope ; so the box remained un- 
opened. 

At first we thought that by "spring-boke" he must 
mean the ordinary African hare ; but, upon our intimating 
as much, he hooted at the idea, assuring us that " he no 
speky lie," and that they stood as high as the knee, and 
had horns. At this we concluded they must be antelope ; 



SMELLING A EAT. 29 

and, upon his saying that he had heard them called by 
that name, expectation put disgust to a precipitate flight, 
imparted fresh vigour to our limbs, and carried us bravely 
over the huge potato-patch. 

During this time Ave saw one rat: and, just as we had 
crossed a deep ravine and were looking up at the rugged 
path we were called upon to ascend, we smelt another : we 
began to think we had been humbugged ; and so disgust 
rallied, overcame expectation beyond further hope, and 
caused us to make the best of our way down the ravine 
to the beach, along which ran a fine hard road from 
Simonstown to the pilot's country residence. 

Once clear of the rough walking, we gave up all idea 
of hunting farther, and, remembering an invitation which 
Mr. Koutze had extended to us to visit him, took it lei- 
surely along towards his cottage. 

!N"ow, however, that we were no longer hunting, it 
seemed that we were to begin to burn powder ; for we had 
not walked a hundred yards along our fine road, before 
it took us across a little rivulet that followed the wind- 
ings of one of those interminable ravines, crossed the 
road, and then disappeared through the thick bushes, 
down, down, into the most snaky-looking locality that 
we had yet seen. 

"Hillo! there's a catbird!" exclaimed Ritchie, in an 
excited whisper. 

""Where?" I asked, in the same tone. 

"Where? In the bushes! Don't you see him?" 

"IsTo, Idon't!" 

"lllTor I either, now! co??/oM?2(i it! He's got away. Sup- 
pose you fire into the bushes at random and let me take 



30 COME ON, MAN. 

him on the wing as he comes out. We must carry some- 
thing back at any rate." 

So I fired into the bushes ; and oh ! such a scream as 
saluted our afi'righted ears in return ! one would have 
thought that half the women in Africa had been shot all 
over except in their tongues and throats, and that the 
other half were helping them to scream. 

" There ! now you've done it !" exclaimed my instigator, 
as he took to his heels and ran with a speed indicating 
any thing but his having tired himself over the potato- 
patch. "Co?ne on, man !" 

I did not wait for a second invitation, but followed 
his example with the spasmodically-braced muscles of 
alarmed excitement. We really thought I might have 
killed some one ; and the cruelty of running away with- 
out rendering him, her, or them, any aid that might have 
been in our power, did not strike us until after we had 
put several hundred yards between us : then we called a 
halt, concluded to return, and did so nearly as fast as we 
had left. 

"We found that I had fired pellmell in among a dozen 
or more Hottentot washerwomxcn, without drawing a 
drop of blood or otherwise harming them, except by a 
slight stinging; and, when we had acknowledged the 
mistake, they rubbed themselves, seemed perfectly satis- 
fied, and went quietly on with their washing, while we 
bade them a smiling adieu and continued on our way to 
the pilot's. He received us quite warmly, treated us to 
as much pure fresh milk, butter, and bread as we could 
dispose of, showed us all through his whaling establish- 
ment, and ended by asking us to dinner. This latter we 



THE RETURN. 31 

declined, however, as it was getting late and our walk 
was long ; but we consented to a second attack upon the 
before-mentioned viands, plus a glass of fine old rum, 
during the discussion of which he found time to assure 
us that there were not, had not been for years, and were 
never again expected to appear, a dozen quail on that 
side of the mountain, and that as for "spring-boke," they 
never crossed the ridge, — a piece of information rather 
calculated to strengthen a suspicion as to the veracity of 
our Hottentot friend which had assailed our minds at the 
time of our " smelling a rat." 

We now started upon our return, but had not walked 
five minutes before we were overtaken by about the 
hardest shower of rain that I ever stood under ; and I do 
really believe that if the gentleman of colour who ex- 
pressed himself so freely in favour of Americans iad 
passed at that moment, he would have been startled, by 
an explosion of fire-arms and a sharp pain about six 
inches • below his waist, into a far different conclusion as 
to American character ; at the same time that the purser 
would have found himself minus a load of powder, a cap, 
two patent wads, and an ounce or more of mustard-seed 
shot. Fortune favoured him, however, and he went to 
bed (?) that night weighing some half-ounce less than if 
we had met. We reached the ship just before dark, and 
stepped at once into a perfect hotbed of annoying obser- 
vations. 

"Hillo! here comes old bust-proof and his master," 
said one. 

"And Habersham and his fifteen-dollar gun!" ex- 
claimed another. 



32 ODORLESS FLOWERS. 

"And not a feather!" put in a third. "Fine hunters 
you are, to-be-sure." And thus were we passed around, 
until I really began to feel rather small and cheap than 
otherwise. 

"Kow, stop your talking for a moment," said the 
purser, "while I tell you of our hunt." He then 
gave them a very flowing account of it, imitated the 
screaming part to perfection, and ended pretty much as 
follows : — 

"We saw during that tramp much more than you did 
who remained on board. "We saw hard walking, oceans 
of the most beautiful and brilliant, but odorless^ wild 
flowers, huge rocks hundreds of feet above the present 
sea-level, the general form and appearance of which 
indicated beyond a doubt that they had been at some 
remote period subjected to the wearing action of a con- 
stant surf. Hence, one may reasonably conclude that 
the sea has retired, or that the rocks have been lifted to 
their present elevation by some powerful convulsion of 
nature. We saw all of this and much more, not forget- 
ting the catbird and the terrified females ; and what is 
there more distressingly beautiful than terrified females 
(pretty ones, I mean) upon the verge of several fainting- 
fits?" 

He stopped for want of breath, gave old bust-proof to 
his boy to clean, and retired into his den amidst the 
cheers of the audience. 

There were two things that surprised us greatly on our 
arrival at this port, and those were the almost total ab- 
sence of natural trees of every description, and the great 
abundance of sweet oranges. Though able from our 



A MOST APPROPRIATE NAME. 66 

mast-liead to overlook quite an extensive section of the 
southern point of Africa, and see natural shrubs and un- 
dergrowth in abundance, I much doubt if the eye could 
have rested upon a dozen trees which had not been trans- 
planted. 

Some of the shore mechanics, however, who were work- 
ing on board, told us that there was no lack of timber 
farther down the coast, and that it existed in considerable 
variety. The kind most esteemed by them for working 
into vessels is something between the teak of India and 
the live oak of Georgia and Florida ; but there is a wide 
difference in one respect, i. e. in the smell, which places 
it entirely out of the power of even the most superficial 
observer to confound it with either. "When moist, this 
smell is absolutely sickening ; and, if you attempt to burn 
it while in that condition, the fumes drive all, even the 
most seasoned noses, from the immediate vicinity of the 
fire. I can give no idea of that odour, unless it be by 
comparing it to a combination of sulphur and assafoetida, 
and even that does not do it justice. 

On account of this peculiar property, the early settlers 
indorsed it with a name which will not bear translation 
into the English of the present day, but w^hich, a hundred 
years since, when people were not so particular, would 
have been called "ye stinke-woode;" and this I regard as 
the most appropriate of names, inasmuch as it gives you 
a better idea of the wood than could otherwise be ob- 
tained, except through the medium of the sense of smell, 
— a source of information to which no one has ever been 
known to apply twice. 

The Mandarin orange of China, as well as the well- 



34 THE TWO TOWNS. 

known species of the West Indies, flourish here in great 
perfection, — a rather singular fact when the latitude is 
taken into consideration. As far as my own experience 
carries me, the northern shore of the Mediterranean and 
this extremity of Africa are the only high latitudes where 
this fruit is cultivated in the open air. 

Simon's Town and Cape Town — ^the former situated on 
the east side of the Cape of Good Hope, and the latter 
on its west side — are the two settlements of the English 
on this extremity of the continent, and are often eon- 
founded. They are, notwithstanding, separated by the 
entire width of the promontory, which is there some 
twenty miles wide, and are totally different; Cape Town 
being the door through which pass both exports and im- 
ports, while Simon's Town is sivni^lj a naval station, and, like 
all other naval stations, a small town has spread itself 
around the walls of the dock-yard : nothing more. 

Unlike most English ports, we found this latter without 
a good beef-market. The article can be obtained in any 
quantity, but its poor quality renders that fact almost a 
misfortune. In the words of the doctor, "a little of it 
went a great way." "We seldom had it on the mess-table, 
therefore, but devoted ourselves to the mutton, which 
was equally plentiful, cheap, and certainly the best mut- 
ton I ever ate, — that of even the Valley of Virginia not 
excepted. 

The population of Simon'sTown is only several hundred, 
who live in some eighty or a hundred neatly- whitewashed 
houses that presented a striking contrast to those we had 
lately left at Porto Praya. Among them I counted four 
churches, five government buildings, sixteen grog-shops, 



THE CAPE MALAY. 35 

three taverns, &c. &c. I don't know, therefore, that I can 
well give the place a name for any great morality ; for, 
while four churches require a certain amount of true or 
worldly religion to keep them up, the sixteen grog-shops, 
the three hotels, and the &c. &cs., call for even a greater 
amount of sin and dissipation. Each one of the churches 
to which I have alluded was the place of worship of 
different denominations. In the first place, there was 
the Church of England, composed of most of the "first 
people of the place," — evidently the fashionable church, the 
place where the richest dresses and the brilliant uniforms 
were to be seen. Then came the Mormons, with their 
seducing doctrines; next the Methodists; and both last 
and least came the Roman Catholics. "With the excep- 
tion of the Mormons', these churches are attended by 
persons of all classes; but the prolific followers of 
Joseph Smith, with very few exceptions, have succeeded 
in turning from the way of darkness (?) only members of 
a certain race. The " Cape Malay," a people of whom I 
had never heard before our arrival, grasped eagerly at 
the demoralizing doctrine of a plurality of wives, and 
crowded around the sacred men who could uncurb the 
bit of sensuality and render null and void the restrain- 
ing laws of bigamy. 

And I was informed by Mr. Holmes, the American 
consul at Cape Town, that, although the converts to that 
creed were generally persons of no individual influence, 
still, from the simple fact of the contagion spreading far 
and wide, it was rapidly becoming of importance from 
the sheer force of numbers. The same gentleman also 
informed me that upon the first arrival of the two 



36 MORMONISM IN AFRICA. 

" elders" at Cape Town they had paid him a visit, wishing 
him, as the American consul, (they themselves being 
Americans, who had been sent from the Great Salt Lake 
to "preach the word,") to back them up with his counte- 
nance through the colony, and that he had been forced 
to politely deny their request. He did not tell me, how- 
ever, that he had said to them, "Well, gentlemen, your 
request is rather a singular one ; but if you will return to- 
morrow you shall have an answer." And he further 
nes:lected to tell me what that answer was. "I have 
thought seriously over your very singular request, Messrs. 
Mormons," he said, "and I think it a humbug, (your reli- 
gion, I mean;) and, as the representative of the great 
American people, I can't support a humbug. Good-m.ovn- 
ing, gentlemen!" 

And this last interpretation of the affair I got from a 
married friend of his, who seemed to think that Mrs. H. 
had had something to say about the Mormons and their 
institutions during the night which followed their first 
interview with him. So much for the commencement of 
Mormonism in Africa. 



CHAPTER m. 

WE MAKE UP A PARTY TO VISIT CAPE TOWN, AND TAKE OUR SEATS IN A CHARIOT 
— ^WE READ POETRY IN FOUR LANGUAGES, AND THINK THAT IT MUST BE A 

FINE THING TO BE A MORMON WE MAKE THE ACQUAINTANCE OF AN EAGER 

GENTLEMAN, AND CONCEIVE A HIGH IDEA OF THE HOSPITALITY OF CAPE 
TOWN. 

After having been a week or more at anchor, several 
of us concluded to pay a visit to Cape Town. A party was 
therefore made up, consisting of Dr. Stuart, of the Por- 
poise, Lieutenant Bliss, of the "Old John," and Mr. Lea 
and myself, from the Kennedy. Our mode of conveyance 
consisted of a two-wheeled vehicle, a Dutch driver by the 
name of Peter, four fearfully-rawboned animals that had 
four legs each and were evidently more like horses than 
any thing else, and a certain amount of traces, bridles, 
reins, and whips. This uncertain "turn-out" was digni- 
fied by the name of the " Mail-coach," — a high-sounding 
title which had alone carried confidence to our unsuspect- 
ing hearts and caused us to jpay for our seats in advance. 
And now, when I add that this "mail-coach" was with- 
out springs, just like an old ox-cart, and that nine unfor- 
tunates were crowded into it, some skeptic may be so 
bold as to say that a two-wheeled vehicle without springs, 
and drawn by horses, would be apt to spill said nine un- 
fortunates out of its stern while being hauled up a hill ; 
and so, for the information of that awful class of society, 

I will add yet something more about our vehicle. 

37 



38 t'other holds t'other up. 

True, it only had two wheels : but then an ox-cart has 
no more; and it is a well-known' fact that this latter can- 
not tilt backwards — turn a half back-somerset — without 
entailing serious inconvenience on the oxen that draw it. 

"Yes, but oxen are yoked, and horses are hitched,'" 
remarks the skeptic. 

"Not always, by any means," is my reply. The oxen 
with us are yoked to their carts, and at the Cape the carts 
are yoked to the horses : that's the only difference. It sounds 
singular, truly ; yet, let us see how they accomplish it. 

In our case, the four animals were hitched up exactly 
as four horses are generally attached to a wagon, with the 
single addition of a curved and flat bar of iron, which 
was secured to the pole just back of the fore-legs of the 
after-ones, and which fit under them just as snugly as 
the half of a hoop would around a barrel. 

And thus much for the ingenious peculiarities of the 
"mail-coach" that ran daily between Simon's Town and 
Cape Town, and in which we were induced to "make 
ourselves comfortable" when we saw that there was no 
help for it. 

It was not long before I was struck with the ingenious- 
ness of the foregoing device for preserving the parallelism 
of two planes ; but I could not help hinting to Peter of a 
fear which had arisen with it in my mind as to the con- 
sequences which might result in case of a stumble. 

"Lord bless you, sir!" was his reply: "vy, that's the 
very time ven it comes in. I)on't you see, it a' n't likely as 
how they'll both fall at oncet? and so t'other holds t'other 
up." I was struck with the force of his argumeni, and, 
lighting a cigar, began to make notes of things in general 



PETER. 39 

as they crossed our heavy path. And now I will show 
the reader how it was that we got into our singular 
vehicle, and how the "animals" were persuaded to make 
a start. 

. It was at the Fountain Inn, the head-quarters of the 
mail-coach line, that we had agreed to rendezvous ; and, 
having assembled there at sunrise on the appointed morn- 
ing, we exchanged four shillings sterling for • as many 
cups of warm water, about seven grains of coffee, half an 
ounce of rancid butter, and four slices of stale bread, 
which we called breakfast ; and then, providing ourselves 
with a bunch of Manilla cheroots each, climbed up to our 
seats, and told Peter that he was at liberty to " crack his 
whip." 

Upon receiving this piece of information, the individual 
to whom it was addressed produced a strange sound, 
somewhat between a whistle, a grunt, and an exclama- 
tion of surprise, which, much to our astonishment, acted 
like a charm upon the four raw-boned animals. "Without 
waiting to impart a gradual motion to the " coach," they 
started it with a jump ; and, since Jupiter, the goddess 
of Fortune, or some youthful member of the rising genera- 
tion, had put a large stone immediately in front of our 
left wheel, we started with a most awful jolt, which, on 
account of the absence of springs, was enabled to give 
the warm water, grains of coffee, stale bread, and half- 
ounce of rancid butter, a very fair idea of what they had 
"to expect should our road prove rough. 

By the time we had driven a mile, both the doctor and 
myself were on very sociable terms with our Saxon 
driver; and, before I proceed any further in this veritable 



40 THAWING PETER. 

narration, I will, for the benefit of all unfortunate " mail- 
coach" passengers, relate the devices we resorted to to 
overcome his lofty reserve of manner, — i. e. the stupid air 
of importance which small people filling small stations 
often assume towards better people who are for the time- 
being at their mercy. "Who is there who at some time 
has not been, offended, has not had his comfort uselessly 
interfered with, by the conductor of a railroad, the mate 
of a mail-steamer, or the driver of a "mail-coach" ? 

In the first place, then, knowing that I was driving over 
a strange road with a hungry note-book in my pocket, I 
saw the necessity of being on communicative terms with 
some person who could answer questions ; and, as Peter 
was the only one in the coach who could answer said 
questions, he "was the man" to be thawed. l!^ow, as soon 
as I had brought the doctor to my way of thinking, we 
commenced the attack, I being armed with the ability to 
drive even four "animals" in hand, and with a bunch 
of cheroots ; while the great medicine-man shook aloft a 
much more terrible weapon of offence in the shape of a 
pocket-pistol, — not one of the murdering inventions of 
Messrs. Sharpe, Colt, or Allen, but a reasonable, single- 
barrelled fellow, who only had one true aim, which was to 
keep always full of good old brandy. 

With these as our weapons, we soon overcame the 
enemy's reserve, I having offered to drive for him while 
he poured out the doctor's brandy, and subsequently 
handed him a cigar with an overcoming suavity of man- 
ner. Our ammunition was not half expended before his 
face was wreathed in smiles and his tongue loosened into 
absolute loquaciousness. 



Peter's grievances. 41 

"What!" he exclaimed, ia answer to a question which 
the doctor now hazarded, — " what ! Don't you know what 
that fence is made of?" 

The doctor puffed his cheroot, and assured his " Chris- 
tian friend" that he was indeed in a state of blissful 
ignorance as to the material of which it was composed. 

"Why, them's whale-vihs, and they lasts longer than 
any wood you can find." 

"Do they, indeed?" smiled the man of pills; but he 
said nothing. It is astonishing how far a pleasant smile 
will go. This one seemed to tickle Peter amazingly : he 
again indulged in the strange sound which we had heard 
at starting, and then his tongue ran from subject to sub- 
ject with amazing agility. At last he came down to his 
domestic affairs, and every one in the coach was soon 
aware of the following facts connected with them. 

Peter was a married man. Peter had no children. 
Peter never expected to have any children. Peter's wife 
didn't love him. Peter never went home more than once 
a year. Peter was a new and zealous advocate of the 
Mormon doctrine. Peter thought that woman was made 
for man, and not man for woman. And last, but not 
least apparently, Peter was desperately in love with a 
feminine whose name was not Mrs. Peter. 

About the time that he had enlightened us thus far, 
the "mail-coach" came to a halt in front of a most sin- 
gular sign. It was at least ten feet square, and hung from 
a long pole that projected over the door of an unpretend- 
ing wayside inn. It was intended to tell the traveller 
all that he had to expect, without putting him to the 
trouble of asking questions. On its double faco there was 



42 THE GENTLE SHEPHERD OF SALISBURY PLAIN. 

painted a house, in the open window of which stood a half- 
emptied bottle and an inverted glass : the door also was 
open, supposed to be the exponent of the boundless hospi- 
tality which awaited the wayfarer upon entering. There 
was also on its face the figure of a Charles 11. cavalier, 
with a shepherd's crook in his warlike hand, and a most 
feline-looking dog crouching at his feet. There was, 
moreover, a horseshoe nailed on its bottom-edge, to scare 
away all Dutchmen's ghosts ; two verses of poetry in the 
centre, to tell the nature of the "treatment" that was to 
be expected ; and, finally, written under the feet of the 
cavalier, the following sentence : — " The Gentle Shep- 
herd of Salisbury Plain." The poetry, which was written 
in English, French, Latin, and Dutch, is well worthy 
of preservation. It was "got up" at the shepherd's 
especial request by an English army-oflSLcer who was 
fond of fun. Here is how it reads : — 

•< 'Life's but a journey; let us live on the koad,' says the Gentle 

Shepherd. 

•'Multum in parvo, pro bono publico ; 
Entertainment for man and beast all of a row. 
Lekker Kost as much as you please ; 
Excellent beds, ■without any fleas. 

" Nos patriam fugimus ; now we are here, 
Vivamus, let us live, by selling beer. 
On donne a boire et a manger ici : 
Come in and try it, whoever you be." 

Upon drawing up in front of the establishment from 
which this rare signboard was hung, we were received 
by the Gentle Shepherd of Salisbury Plain in person, and 



CONGRATULATING THE SHEPHERD. 43 

had it not been for a forewarning of Peter's in regard to 
tlie quality of his "lekker," we would most certainly 
have been inveigled, by his polite invitation and bland 
smiles, into entering his bar-room and paying him a shil- 
ling sterling each. As it was, however, we contented 
ourselves with congratulating him upon the non-existence 
of fleas in his beds, (as per signboard,) wished him a 
polite good-morning, and drove out of hearing before he 
could command words to express himself pleased or an- 
noyed by our remarks. We inferred the latter to be the 
case, however, from the fact of his looking very red in 
the face and shaking his fist at our retreating conveyance, 
as well as from a comment indulged in by Peter upon his 
appearance: — "Yell now, old man's mad, I tell you." 

"Never mind the old shepherd, Peter; you take 
another drink of this good brandy, and then crack your 
whip : we're getting late," said the doctor. 

So Peter smilingly complied, and then once more 
"got off" the "undetermined sound." 

It is twenty-one miles from Simon's Town to Cape Town, 
and the first seven miles that we had driven over was 
the best of roads at one time and the worst of roads at 
another. It was what is understood by a " beach-road," 
so that the hauling was over hard sand at low-water and 
through hub-deep sand at high-water : the latter happened 
unfortunately to fall to our lot. The last fourteen miles, 
however, we travelled over the most beautiful road I ever 
saiv, and I do not think that I ever rode over a beautiful 
road before with such true pleasure. This was owing to 
the fact of our " chariot" (Peter even called it " the cha- 
riot" sometimes) being minus springs; for I could not 



44 A VARIETY OF COLOURS. 

avoid imagining the horrible succession of jolts to which 
we should have been forced to submit had we been run- 
ning over any but a perfectly-macadamized road. 

In addition to the perfect smoothness of this road, we 
found, after passing the Half-way House, an avenue of 
fine old oaks spreading their branches between us and 
the sun, which, meeting overhead and twisting among 
each other in every imaginable form, formed a cool, shady 
drive, that was crossed every now and then by a noisy 
little stream of limpid mountain-water, that washed our 
tires and added to the general coolness of the road. 
This avenue reached almost to Cape Town : it must have 
been eight miles long. And just imagine an avenue of 
heavy, solid old oaks of that length : it was a perfect 
treat to drive through it. And then the numbers of the 
fair sex (?) that we were continually passing, — some of 
them quite pretty, and, again, some of them horribly ugly. 
They were of all colours, too. They were white, copper- 
coloured, black, and undetermined, and seemed to resort 
to this avenue as their favourite morning walk. 

I soon began to be attracted by Peter's manner as we 
fell in with these fair pedestrians : I noticed that if they 
were young and pretty, our newly-fledged Mormon in- 
variahly knew them, whereas, if they were the contrary, such 
was never the case. To some of the former he would 
give a nod; to others, a "good-morning, miss!" while 
with others again I even saw him go so far as to indulge 
in a wink ; but, when either age or ugliness drew towards 
us, he always found that his horses were not going fast 
enough, that it was necessary to gather up his reins, shake 
his dilapidated whip, and produce the startling noise, the 



WHALES AND WHALING. 45 

"undetermined sound." And if they came towards him 
too closely, as if determined to catch his eye, he would even 
turn his head to answer an imaginary question, thus pre- 
senting his back to their anxious gaze. Noticing all of 
this, I could not help hinting that I feared Mrs. Peter 
had good cause to avoid doting on him ; but he replied, 
with great earnestness of manner, that the greater part 
of them were Mormons, and consequently his spiritual 
sisters. So I thought, "What a fine thing it must be to 
be a Mormon !" and thereafter held my peace. 

Previous to our arrival at the Gentle Shepherd's, we 
had passed a small sea-side village, called Cork Bay, which 
Peter told us was inhabited entirely by whale-fishermen 
and their families. "We subsequently saw another of 
those whaling-establishments at Cape Town. These two, 
with that which we had previously visited at the pilot's, 
comprised all that we could hear of in the locality. 

Those engaged in the business do not own vessels 
which they send in search of the whale, but accomplish 
most of their work in open boats. They lounge about 
the beach until some unfortunate whale is discovered 
in the bay, when they man their boats, attack him with 
harpoon and lance, and, if victorious, tow him to the 
beach, where he is hauled up by oxen, stripped of his 
blubber, and otherwise roughly handled. We were told 
that they were getting very scarce of late years, however, 
and that the business no longer held out the promise of 
even a reasonable gain. "We now ceased to wonder where 
80 many whale-ribs had come from, the road having been 
lined with fences made of them, during the first part of 
our drive. 



46 FAST CATTLE. 

Talking of hauling the whale up with oxen reminds 
me that I there saw as many as sixteen of the latter yoked 
to a single cart; and we were subsequently informed by 
the consul that they could travel without difficulty as far 
as forty or fifty miles a day before a heavy load. They 
are yoked like those of South America, the yoke being 
lashed on in front of the horns. 

Shortly after leaving the whale-rib fences behind us, 
we began to find a more elevated country ; and soon after 
this we pulled up in front of the "Half-way House," 
where we exchanged our " piles of bones" for four others, 
that looked even more unpromising than the first, but 
which astonished us by getting over the beautiful road 
with a very fair speed. We now began to see rich, taste- 
ful, and romantic-looking country-seats peering through 
the planted woods on either side of our avenue, also two 
or three small villages, and as many brick-kilns. These 
latter produce a very inferior brick, however, if I may 
judge from those which came under my inspection. The 
country-seats belong to the more wealthy residents of 
Cape Town, are of the English style, and are generally 
surrounded by extensive groves of pine-trees, planted in 
rows like Indian corn. As we drove along between those 
beautifully laid-out grounds, we were more than ever 
struck with the absence of natural foliage. 

At last we began to enter Cape Town, after a drive of 
three hours and twelve minutes, and, having taken rooms 
at the "Masonic," commenced preparing for an official 
visit to Mr. Holmes, the consul. He received us with 
great politeness, and, as is usual on such occasions, the 
visit terminated with an invitation to dinner, at "six 



SIX SHARP. 

sharp;" and we were just being bowed out of the con- 
sulate, when a most gentlemanly-looking Englishman of 
some fifty years entered, and was introduced to us as Mr. 
Eager. The name of this gentleman seemed most ap- 
propriate ; for he took advantage of the first pause in 
the renewed conversation to ask us to dine with him 
at "six sharp," which caused us to smile as we told him 
of "six sharp" 'No. 1, and begged him to accept it as 
our excuse. He seemed quite disappointed at this, and 
begged us to let him have the pleasure of our company 
at the same hour on the following day; but there, also, 
three of us were forced to disappoint him, as our leave ex- 
pired at that time. The doctor, however, accepted "with 
pleasure," and, after pointing out the most pleasant direc- 
tion for strolling, our polite acquaintance took his leave. 
We never subsequently met his equal : we hope to meet 
him again. 

Having nothing to do but hunt for what was to be seen, 
we followed the direction he had pointed out, and soon 
arrived at a stone gateway that opened into a most shady 
and picturesque walk. It proved to be some five hundred 
yards in length by about fifty feet in width, and was 
limited on either side by closely-planted oaks of gigantic 
proportions, the same apparently that had sheltered us 
on our way down. Had not the days of Aladdin's lamp 
and ring been among those of the past, one might readily 
have imagined this second avenue of noble trees to have 
been a section of that beautiful road that had been trans- 
planted for our express benefit. 

At the far-end of this walk we found another gateway, 
which, like the first, was guarded day and night by ram- 



48 REMARKABLE RAMRODS. 

rod-like sentries, whose particular business it is to salute 
officers and to keep out brindled cows, fierce dogs, and, 
what is nearly as bad, presuming rowdies, so that ladies 
and children may enjoy a quiet walk without the fear of 
encountering the attentions of either of the foregoing 
parties. 

On the left of this delightful promenade is located the 
Government house and grounds, while the space on 
the right is occupied by a botanical garden. Both of 
these are enclosed by tasteful fencing ; and when you get 
half-way up the avenue you come to two gates, — ^the one 
directly facing the other, — ^before Avhich two more dressed- 
up ramrods walk up and down and bore all who pass in 
uniform, by "presenting arms" with a clang that often 
startles weak-minded officials into a state of nervous 
politeness and takes away greatly from the pleasure of 
any one's walk. This soon became such a bore that we 
were glad to get out of our feathers and emerge once more 
from the "Masonic" in the reasonable costume of free and 
enlightened citizens. Previous to this, however, we used 
said feathers to open the gates of the garden, through the 
well-kept walks of which we lounged, to the intense admi- 
ration of a dozen or more nurses and probably double 
the number of children, until the arrival of the hour for 
lunch. 

During this lounge we did not notice any foreign plants 
or flowers; but those indigenous to the country were 
both so numerous and beautiful that their presence was 
not at all necessary. We were told by the keeper that 
that garden was not supported by either the home, colo- 
nial, or city treasury, but by the voluntary subscription 



DISGUSTED SHEEPISHNESS. 49 

of various families, who thus secure to themselves and 
friends a quiet, retired spot in which to stroll at pleasure. 
Then each of these subscribers has furnished him any 
number of tickets, which are presented to "distinguished 
strangers" to gain them admission ; but, in spite of this, 
there are shingle-notices stuck up and through the garden 
to the effect that "strangers are admitted without tickets," 
so one would say they are of no use. "When the music 
is under way, however, the shingle-notices cease to be of 
effect, and the ticket is required. Some of our officers 
found themselves in a most mortifying situation on this 
account : they were in uniform, the garrison-band was in 
full blast, and the garden was crowded with "the fami- 
lies." Of course they made for the gate with as dignified 
a step as possible, to join in the scene, when invidious 
Fate, in the shape of the gate-keeper, stopped them, and 
asked for their tickets. 

Of course they could only look angry or sheepish, and 
they chose the former ; but old Fate was not to be 
alarmed. They were therefore about to act like sensible 
men and retire, when several of the officers of the gar- 
rison, seeing their dilemma, left, the ladies who were 
hanging on their arms, and advanced to their assistance ; 
but their efforts were of no avail, and they were forced to 
return to the fair ones, while our fellows walked off in a 
state of disgusted sheepishness. The English officers 
seemed as much mortified, however, as they were, and a 
few days later a long apology reached the squadron from 
his excellency the governor, in which he attributed all 
the blame to the stupidity of the gate-keeper. 

"Well, as soon as we had got out of our uniform, we 



50 A CAPE TOWN BOOKSELLER. 

again sallied out, this time in search of a bookstore, where 
we hoped to find a standard work that we were in search 
of. "We were surprised to find but one establishment 
of the kind, and at being there informed that they 
only imported similar works " to order.'" I could not help 
comparing this yawning reply, the store, and the "im- 
porter" himself, with the Yankee bookseller of the pre- 
sent day. I could not help thinking how in a port like 
that, where no duties were levied, the latter would soon 
open their eyes to the "Young America" way of carry- 
ing on that business. 

We now returned to the hotel, where we found several 
Dutch officers, whose vessel had reached Simon's Bay 
since our arrival, engaged in discussing a late lunch in 
the only sitting-room. Of course we had to intrude our 
company upon them or retire to our rooms ; so we chose 
the former. It is a singular fact that naval men, of what- 
ever nation, become acquainted as the most natural thing 
in the world : in the present case, five minutes had not 
elapsed before several bottles of ale were consumed and 
double the number of cheroots ignited. Then we com- 
menced to talk of our past and future movements quite 
smoothly; and when they left in the "mail-coach" a 
half-hour later, one would have imagined that we were 
old acquaintances. We learned one thing from those 
gentlemen which struck us as being but just and reason- 
able : — their men-of-war are kept seven or eight years in 
commission when once sent to a distant colony like Ba- 
tavia, (they were then on their homeward-bound voyage 
from that station,) and after that, such officers as desire it 
may retire from service on reduced pay ; — a proceeding 



STARTLING INFORMATION. 51 

whicli, if applied to our own navy, would render it both 
effective and comfortable. 

Table Mountain has been drawn so often both by pen 
and pencil, and Cape Town, which slumbers at its base, 
is so well known, that I shall pass lightly over both and 
hasten on to other regions. 

We met Mr. Holmes at the appointed hour, enjoyed a 
very fair dinner, and had the pleasure of conversing 
during said enjoyment with Captain Jamison, E..N., an 
accomplished Englishman, and a man of great general 
and local information. Having resided over twenty years 
in the colony, and being knowm as a gentleman of unex- 
ceptionable character, I feel that I may safely give circu- 
lation to parts of his very instructive conversation. 

Among other things, he told us that the tribe of Kaffirs 
proper did not number over forty thousand fighting-men, 
but that in their conflicts with the English they could 
double or treble that number by calling in other South 
Africans, drawn chiefly from the Bushmen and another 
tribe the name of which has escaped me. The Hotten- 
tots, he said, were almost extinct. In regard to wild ani- 
mals and reptiles, he said that the cheetah, the leopard, 
and the antelope, still existed in the vicinity in consider- 
able numbers, but that a lion was now very rarely en- 
countered. Puff-adders were abundant, and the cobra di 
capello was often killed on the mountain-sides measuring 
from ten to fourteen feet. 

This latter was a piece of information that sounded 
much more agreeably to my ear at that time than it would 
have done some daj^s previous, when the purser and my- 
self were "smelling a rat" at the head of a deep ravine, 



52 SLY, SIR, — DEVILISH SLY. 

with at least half a mile of undergrowth between us and 
the open road. 

Captain Jamison next spoke of the great superiority 
of the Kaffir over the Bushman, and placed the latter in 
turn over the Hottentot. "The Kaffir," he said, "has 
considerable mind, is brave, and diffisrs from the negro 
in many essential points: in colour he approaches the 
Moor. The Bushman is 'regular negro,' passably brave, 
but of no mental capacity; while the Hottentot is remark- 
able for nothing but high cheek-bones and a most mar- 
vellous development that would put to shame the most 
exaggerated of old-fashioned bustles." 

Somehow or other the conversation here turned upon 
Peter, our Mormon driver; and the captain laughingly 
gave us a short history of him. Peter, he said, was 
widely known as a clever and obliging fellow, but, like 
Joseph Bagstock, he was " sly, sir, — devilish sly." Having 
been unmercifully "kicked" by a young lady of Dutch 
parentage, he had rushed to the feet of a Hottentot belle 
and dragged her to the nuptial broomstick in a state of 
mind bordering upon desperation. Alas for Peter ! He 
had not been married a week before he made the start- 
ling discovery that he was not her "first love;" and this, 
combined with the fact of his brandy-bottle always giving 
out when he still thought that it should be half full, pro- 
duced a gradual change in his feelings which finally re- 
sulted in his embracing the Mormon faith. Poor Peter ! 
I'll venture to say that you still sit behind those piles of 
bones, still urge them ahead with that ejaculation of 
surprise. 

It was a late hour when we shook hands with our host, 



WHAT A VAG MR. PETER IS ! 53 

and the next day at 2 p.m. we were again in the " chariot," 
on our return to Simon's Town. During this drive we were 
struck with the great number of brilliantly-plumaged 
birds that crossed our path, as well as by the fact that 
none of them seemed to be of the singing order. I asked 
Peter the reason of this, and he replied that they had 
given up singing since the English had taken the country 
from his people, — an answer which caused a young 
female in a linsey-woolsey garment of very limited length 
to say, " "What a vag Mr. Peter is !" " What's it to you ?" 
asked the latter, turning sharply around and scowling 
upon her with crushing disdain. The lady was not 
pretty. We are again on board ship. So much for Cape 
Town and — ^Peter. 



CHAPTER IV. 

WE LEAVE Simon's town and sail fok batavia, wheee we eeoeive a 

VISIT THAT DOES RELATE TO OUK HEALTH, AND SEE A EEMAKKABLE GUN ; 
AFTER WHICH WE LISTEN TO SEVERAL ASTONISHING ACCOUNTS FROM AN 
ENGLISH RESIDENT, AND AGAIN PUT TO SEA. 

It is the 9tli of November, and we are again getting up 
our anclior. Tlie Hancock and Cooper sailed some days 
since for Batavia, and we are now to follow them in the 
Kennedy, while the Yincennes and Porpoise proceed to 
Hong-Kong via Australia. From Batavia we are to pro- 
ceed in company with the first two vessels to the neigh- 
bouring Straits of Gaspar, survey them, and then join the 
Vincennes and Porpoise at Hong-Kong. And now, be- 
fore we leave Simon's Town, let me say a word in regard 
to the " Cape Malay." 

Surprised to find this race in such numbers so far away 
from their island-homes, I questioned Captain Jamison on 
the subject, and learned that when the Cape was in pos- 
session of the Dutch they had been imported from the 
islands of Sumatra, Borneo, &c. as slaves, and that, being 
remarkably prolific, they had increased tenfold. That 
when the English succeeded the Dutch, and they were 
emancipated and thrown on their own resources, they 
had turned their attention td making honest livelihoods, 
and were now very creditable members of society. I could 
not but compare their conduct and success as freemeu 

54 



A PAINTED SEA. 55 

with the conduct and failure of the African slave of my 
own land when similarly released. 

There was another subject — one of nature's numerous 
phenomena — that excited both our surprise and adpaira- 
tion while anchored off Simon's Town. 

The whole surface of the harbour would at times be 
covered by a greasy, frothy, variously-coloured substance, 
that gave the water a most uncleanly appearance during 
.the day, but which at night caused it to resemble a lake 
of molten gold. How deep it extended we could not tell, 
possibly the whole depth of the harbour. 

We had observed the same phenomenon while ap- 
proaching the coast, and had at first been at a loss what 
to attribute it to. The whole sea was sprinkled with 
the variously-hued patches, and as we sailed through 
them we left a wake of fire that was apparent even under 
the glare of the mid-day sun. It was like sailing over a 
painted sea in the daytime ; and at night, when the seas 
lifted up their lambent crests in all directions, the effect 
was truly grand. "We subsequently attributed their 
existence to the presence of vast masses of a migrating 
infusoria, the minute and phosphorescent forms of the 
largest of which we could readily detect in a drop of the 
water by placing it under an ordinary magnifier. 

And now when we again " launched out upon the sea" — 
we, and the Vincennes, and the poor doomed Porpoise — we 
looked around in vain for those living fields — those green 
and golden and purple plains — which had extended for 
miles around us and been composed of an infinite number 
of living animals, — animals which exist only in the micro- 
scopic world, and which are of such infinitesimal dimen- 



56 MAN OVERBOARD. 

sions that we are told five millions may pass through the 
eye of a cambric-needle at the same time without elbow- 
ing each other. So much for the Cape of Good Hope ; 
— ^with its ugly women, songless birds, and odorless 
flowers. 

I have already remarked that it was ITovember 9, and 
that we were again at sea. The first day out, while we 
were all three running along before a glorious breeze, the 
Vincennes suddenly lost a man overboard, and a most 
lively scene ensued while picking him up. Helms were 
shoved hurriedly down, studding-sails slapped and flapped 
in the most approved style, boats were lowered, ships 
came up into the wind, and, finally, the unfortunate 
clumsy was rescued from "a watery grave." Mght 
closed around us, and we parted company: the Vin- 
cennes and Porpoise to skirt the coral reefs of southern 
latitudes, and we to make the best of our way to Batavia. 

One of those singular accidents which sailors in parti- 
cular are disposed to regard in a miraculous light now 
occurred on board, and gave us something to talk about. 
We were eating our first sea-breakfast : all of the mess, 
save the officer of the deck, were at the table, and the ship 
was beating slowly to the eastward against a light breeze. 
Suddenly our assistant hydrographer, Mr. Samuel Potts, 
of Washington, remarked that he had " dreamed a dream" 
about his box of clothes, which, having failed to reach 
him before sailing from home, his friends had promised 
to ship to China. "I dreamt," he said, "that we were 
lying becalmed near a merchant-ship, that we lowered a 
boat and boarded her, and that the boat returned with 
my box." Nothing more was said or thought on the sub- 



A DREAM VERIFIED. 57 

ject for several hours, when, strange to say, we found 
ourselves becalmed within a mile or two of a deeply- 
laden bark which showed American colours. 

"That fellow looks as if he might be from 'New York, 
with a load of coal and a few stray newspapers," remarked 
Russell, the third lieutenant. "I'm going to ask for a 
])oat to board him." 

So he asked, got a boat, boarded the strange sail, arid 
returned with Mr. Potts' s box. She proved to be the bark 
Roebuck, of Baltimore, eighty-four days out, loaded with 
coal for Perry's squadron. 

Our passage to Batavia presents little of interest to the 
general reader. I take a few extracts from my journal, 
simply to avoid slighting that portion of the cruise. 

"I^ov. 15.— Lat. 35° 37' S., long. 28° 25' E. A fresh 
breeze from south to southeast. Weather overcast and 
cloudy, the water of a greenish tinge. The following 
birds have hovered around the ship during the day: — 
albatross, Cape-pigeons, gulls, blue jaj^s, (a sea-bird re- 
sembling its shore-namesake,) sheer-waters, sea-crows, 
petrels, and whale-birds ; not so many by far as yester- 
day. Where have they gone to ? They generally hang 
by a ship to pick up the scraps that are thrown over by 
the cooks, and I have been often struck by the uncer- 
tainty of their presence. I have at length attributed it to 
the proximity of other ships; for I have noticed that 
whenever a vessel comes in sight they invariably become 
scarce. They soar to such heights that many miles of 
space that are below our horizon become open to them, 
besides which they have a clearer sight than man, and 
instinct in addition. The consequence is that they always 



58 HARD UP THE HELM. 

see a ship first ; and I feel confident that the approach of 
many vessels might be predicted by following the old 
Roman idea of consulting the flight of birds." 

" Nov. 16. — Saw a school of white porpoises during the 
afternoon watch, who played about us with great ease, 
darting ahead or astern as it pleased them, though we 
were running at the rate of ten knots. One of the men — 
Corcoran, an old whaler — got a harpoon over the bow, 
and put it entirely through one of them ; but our speed 
was so great that it tore out with the first jerk, and the 
wounded animal started frantically off at right angles and 
was followed by the entire school. He marked his path 
by a bloody streak." 

" Kov. 18. — The weather has been dark and threaten- 
ing for the last twenty-four hours, and the barometer 
sinking with a determined uniformity unpleasant to 
behold. "We knew that ' something was in the wind,' 
but thought we should be able to drag along quite com- 
fortably under double reefs or something of that sort. 
We contented ourselves, therefore, with hauling up the 
mainsail, stowing the jib, and setting the topmast-stay- 
sail ; but it soon came a little harder than we had bar- 
gained for, and it was 'up helm and run before it' with 
unpleasant suddenness. "We now shortened sail to a 
close-reefed maintopsail and foresail, and 'let her slide.' 
This latter sail was new, and therefore gave us no con- 
cern, but the topsail was half worn and not to be trusted. 
Suddenly the cyclone (it was blowing fearfully by this 
time) boxed around forward of the beam, and the old 
maintopsail blew into a hundred pieces. The lee sheet- 
block was snapped off with the report of a young cannon, 



THE cyclone's centke. 59 

and went singing to leeward with furious velocity. 
*Hard up the helm, to keep her before the gale:' and, 
as the wheel turned heavily around, I saw a beautiful sight. 
It had been blowing a moderate gale for the last twelve 
hours ; a heavy swell had been rolling directly against it, 
and the gale of course had got up its own sea, which 
ran against and on top of the swell. Now this sudden 
shifting of the wind brought its new direction almost at 
right angles with both sea and swell, besides getting up 
a cro5s-sea ; and, as one of the former came tumbling on 
our quarter, (the ship herself hopping about like an 
India-rubber ball,) a violent squall got under its curved 
crest, and, lifting it bodily up, seemed all at once to change 
from a squall to a furious whirlwind. The result can be 
better imagined than described. This vast volume of 
water, held in suspension, as it were, by a powerful cur- 
rent of air that seemed to revolve upon its own axis, 
and lifting itself between us and the dazzling rays of a 
meridian sun, reflected the various hues of the rainbow 
for a moment, and then, torn and scattered into giant 
drops and driving misf, made the sea foam under its 
descent and saturated us with its whirling spray. It 
was a beautiful sight, and, though in or near the centre 
of one of the dreaded cyclones, we took time to ad- 
mire it." 

" Nov. 21. — I borrowed ' old bust-proof from the purser 
this morning and went on deck to shoot an old Cape- 
albatross, gray with age, and measuring at least twelve 
feet from pinion to pinion. He swept within thirty or 
forty yards of me several times, but could never be per- 
suaded to 'turn his back' so that the shot might pene- 



60 A LARGE WHALE. 

trate up along his feathers. He was evidently a very 
polite old gentleman, or he had a great weakness for his 
tail, — it was hard to say which. I was forced, therefore, 
to fire as he presented his side in turning, and this I did 
several times with no efiect ; he did not even shake his 
valued tail. The 'No. 4 ^hot evidently glanced from the 
smooth and polished coating. At last he forgot his 
breeding, turned his tail upon me, and was notified of 
his breach of etiquette through the agency of both 
barrels. This seemed to cause him considerable an- 
noyance for a short time, but at the end of a minute 
he ceased to shake his caudal appendage and became 
as majestic in his movements as ever. I now went 
below and got some bbb shot, determined to 'try the 
virtue of stones ;' and, like the boy in the apple-tree, he 
came down at the first summons, I looked at his heavy 
body and snoAvy plumage as he floated by, and felt a 
pang of remorse for having so wantonly destroyed so 
noble a bird." 

"ISTov. 27. — Here comes a 'fish-story.' One of our 
old quartermasters, Peterson by name, told me a few 
moments since, with the most serious face in the world, 
that a whale had come as close as ten paces to the ship 
'during his watch, and that he was as long as the ship — 
within a few feet. I asked him how much he meant by 
'a few feet,' and was amused at his answering, 'Ten or 
twelve, sir!' He thus made his whale over a hundred 
feet long, and evidently believed what he was saying. 

" 'His wake was like that of a ship,' he said ; ' and when 
he lifted to blow, his head was at least ten feet above 
the sea.' I give his yarn a place here because the old 



MAMMOTH SEAS. 61 

fellow would not imagine any thing unless for a 'con- 
sideration;' and, if there is such a thing as a whale over 
a hundred feet long, I believe he has seen him, in which 
case it is worth mentioning." 

" Dec. 4. — I observed indications of a strong current 
on the tops of the heavy westerly swells as they rolled 
by us. One of them which I measured roughly from 
the mizzen-rigging — my eye being elevated twenty feet 
above the sea-level — proved to be ten feet high, or 
twenty feet from its top to the bottom of the valley, and 
to be about one hundred yards from the one that fol- 
lowed it. Its velocity was about thirty feet a second. 
These swells, so different from the short ones of the 
Atlantic and other confined bodies of water, came under 
our stern with a power acquired from the immense 
stretch of space over which they roll, and lift the ship 
upon their rising breast, urging her ahead with an in- 
creased velocity, and leaving us bow up and stern down, 
to be similarly treated by the next in turn. Ugly com- 
panions they would be among the broken rocks of a lee 
shore." And now for the Malay Islands. 

It was on the 24th of December, 1853, that we sighted 
that of Java, and the next morning we were at anchor 
off the town of Anger, situated on its western extreme. 
"We stopped there to get a pilot, if possible, to take us on 
to Batavia ; and, though there was none to be found at 
that time, we bought a late coast-chart from the authori- 
ties, by which we worked up to Batavia the next day. 
"We found the Hancock and Cooper already there, and 
the following day the former left for our surveying- 
ground, — distant now only a few hours' sail, — ordering us 



62 ANGER. „ 

to follow as soon as possible. "We had been at sea forty- 
six days, and were amply prepared to enjoy the few short 
hours thus considerately granted us. 

Let me make an extract from my journal in regard to 
Auger. 

"We had anchored near it during the night — "At day- 
light a beautiful sight spread itself out before us : a low, 
undulating country, backed by the blue mountains of the 
interior, and fronted by dense groves of the cocoanut, 
of the mangosteen, and of the banana, had taken the 
place of our interminable sea-horizon, and refreshed the 
vision while it also promised an abundant supply of the 
most delicious fruits. 

"While I yet admired this grateful change through a 
glass, a dozen or more Malay boats pulled alongside of 
us, whose occupants soon gave us to understand that 
they were a most noisy set of people. Their boats were 
laden to their gunwales with fruit, vegetables, and ani- 
mals of a dozen different species, — live stock in abun- 
dance for the table, and various unknown animals to 
tempt the curiosity of the naturalist. 

"We found every thing very cheap: — chickens one 
dollar the dozen ; eggs ditto the hundred ; and the fruit 
absolutely being thrown away. Everybody smiled com- 
placently, looked ahead two hours, and made an ima- 
ginajp- breakfast upon broiled chickens, soft-boiled eggs, 
and mangosteens." 

Header, have you ever eaten a mangosteen ? It is by 
far the most delicious fruit in the world; it puts the 
cheremoya of Peru to the blush, and doesn't show 
strawberries-aud-cream the shade of a chance : it is worth 



THE FRUIT OF FRUITS. 63 

living even in tlie East to eat the mangosteen. "While 
I was opening one of them and putting the four sections 
into my mouth one after the other in rapid succession, I 
was saluted by a young Japanese of Mongolian cast of 
features, rather below the middle size, and showing a 
horribly-black set of teeth — black as ink — when he 
wished to appear amiable. He told me that he was the 
second captain of the port, and that he had called to pay 
his respects and see if we wanted any thing. I subse- 
quently found that he was a dealer in poultry, &c. ; and 
as soon as he found we didn't want any thing — ^having been 
previously supplied — he took himself oft' in high dud- 
geon. Before he went, however, I had, with my usual 
curiosity, questioned him as to the colour of his teeth, 
and been told that all of his people's teeth were the same, 
resulting from the excessive chewing of the betel-nut. 

"I liked the looks of their boats and canvas. They 
were very cleanly built, and were propelled by both oars 
and sails. The former were very short and broad, almost 
paddles, and the latter — which generally consisted of a 
single or double lug — were made of grass-matting sewed 
together, that was lighter and more flexible even than 
canvas. 

"Like most half-civilized or savage people, the occu- 
pants of these boats expressed themselves in quick, loud, 
and energetic language, accompanied by violent and 
frequent gesticulation. To stand at a distance and see 
several of them carrying on an ordinary conversation, a 
stranger would imagine them upon the verge of a free 
fight." 

While approaching Batavia, the wind was very light, 



64 UNPLEASANT "BACKING AND FILLING." 

and the sun so hot as to make the deck unbearable for a 
person with thin soled-shoes. I again turn to my 
journal: — 

"At 1.45 P.M. we beat through the narrow passage 
that separates the small island of Amsterdam from that 
of Java, and escaped going on shore by the skin of our 
teeth: the fine working-qualities of our ship were all 
that saved us. There are more small islands around us 
now than I ever saw before, — mere knots of earth with 
little or no elevation, a very dense growth of wood, and 
averaging probably five hundred feet in circumference." 

I subsequently learned that these islands are let out 
by the Dutch authorities to the highest bidder, who then 
cuts the wood and supplies the market of Batavia. 

" They seem to be densely populated ; and the houses — 
which are low, and built of bamboo and grass — are 
situated in snug-looking, shady nooks, and seemed so 
cool and airy from our heated decks, that one almost 
forgot the half-blistered feet upon which he was back- 
ing and filling around in search of a shady spot upon 
which to put them. As I write, I hear the laughing 
voice of our assistant hydrographer : — 'I say, doctor, you 
should have been with us when we landed at Anger this 
morning: there were more than a hundred Malays on 
the beach to receive us, and I know I could have carried 
all the clothes they had on, on my left arm, at a single 
load. They seemed to think that nature, like beauty, 
"when unadorned was adorned the most." ' " 

Poor fellows ! One of them now slumbers in the 
fathomless depths of the coral sea ; and the other, — ^his 
honest heart beat its final throb upon the unknown shore 



-HT' 



HOW TO WEATHER HEAT. 65 

of heathen Japan, and, as his wasted frame was lowered 
into its Christian grave amidst the urned ashes of infidel 
milhons, the words of hope — " I am the Resurrection and 
the Life" — floated solemnly through the silent air, and 
told the lounging priests of the Buddhist temple that 
reared its quaint form over the stranger's grave, that the 
reign of their gods of stone was drawing to a close. 

"We have just anchored between our two consorts, 
and have already been boarded by the boat of a Dutch 
man-of-war, the officer of which speaks English perfectly. 
He has been so polite as to give us some useful informa- 
tion in regard to this proverbially-unhealthy port. He 
says that their squadron, consisting of five steamers and 
a frigate, has at present several hundred men and officers 
in the hospital, — cases of Java fever, — and that as a sani- 
tary measure all vessels anchoring here are advised to 
observe the following rules. 

" Firstly : to have natives to pull in their boats, so as 
to expose the men as little as possible : — 

"Secondly: to do no work between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. 
that takes the men out from under the awnings. 

" Thirdly and lastly : to spread the latter as soon 

as the sun begins to dissipate the overcast sky, to keep 

them spread until the sky again becomes overcast in the 

evening, and then to trice them up so that the heat may 

radiate from the deck before night. In that way, he 

said, they managed to keep so cool as often to be able to 

get to sleep before midnight: neglect these precations 

and the lower decks would be like ovens. We thanked 

our adviser, and he took his leave." 

I shall say little in regard to Batavia : the road has 

5 



Q6 CHEAP LIVING. 

been travelled too often. I turn to my journal and select 
the few following extracts : — 

" The ship's sides and decks are so hot that one almost 
melts in his bunk, and to sleep on deck in the dew is said 
to be certain sickness." 

Bliss, the third lieutenant of the Hancock, and myself 
had determined to go on shore. 

"We had at our disposal one of that vessel's boats, 
over which was spread a fine awning, and which was 
pulled by Malay boatmen hired by Captain Eodgers /rom. 
the Government for the small consideration of one rupee 
each a day. A rupee is equal to from thirty-six to forty 
cents, and each man must pay fifteen of those cents to 
the authorities for being, so kind as to hire him out. 
Thus he has only some twenty-two or three left as pay- 
ment for pulling about all day under a broiling sun. 
This, however, is good pay ; for ten doits — three cents — 
will give him food for a day, and then he has the rest to 
gamble with. They are the greatest gamblers I ever 
saw, except, perhaps, the Chinese. 

"After pulling a mile or more from the ship, we 
reached the mouth of a canal, up which we passed to 
the landing. "We were told that it was a most danger- 
ous thing to cross the bar at its mouth when it was 
blowing fresh, as there was always a bad sea breaking, 
and hundreds of sharks and crocodiles ready to pick up 
the inmates of a swamped boat. 

"These animals, it seems, abound in great numbers 
about the bar, — the sharks outside and the crocodiles in- 
side, — and feed upon the refuse of the city as it is swept 
down to them by a two-knot current, sometimes making 



ANY THING BUT SPRING-WATER. 67 

a dessert of some capsized unfortunate. The sliark never 
crosses the bar, and the crocodile never goes up higher 
than the first houses ; so the natives bathe in perfect se- 
curity in the part of the canal running through the city. 
The water of this stream is of a dirty grayish- white colour, 
holds in suspension the sweepings of the city, and smells 
horribly. One would scarcely imagine it conducive to 
cleanliness to bathe in it ; and yet it is the water fur- 
nished to shipping for drinldng-purposes. It is also used 
— after passing through stone filterers — by the entire 
population of Batavia, — a fact which causes many 'first- 
comers' to say very little about thirst for several days 
after their arrival. 

"I judged, from various indications, that the Dutch 
have these people in complete subjection. Even the 
natives, their own fellows, who are so fortunate as to 
be in the Government employ, are respected, feared, and 
obeyed as though they were superior beings. This was 
exemplified even in the conduct of our temporary boat- 
men, who, when we would get fouled among other 
boats, — the canal was always crowded, — cleared a track 
for us with curses, threats, and frequent blows, and were 
scarcely scowled upon in return. I thought this strange, 
as my previous idea of the Malay character was that of 
a wild, untamable, treacherous, and warlike race." 

We have landed at the lower town, and hired a con- 
veyance to take us up to the city. 

" Our carriage was a comfortable, strongly-built, double 
buggy, that ran on four very small and solid wheels and 
was drawn by two very small and solid horses, — horses 
about the size of a large Shetland pony. Our driver was 



68 OPPRESSIVE CLOTHING. 

a Malay, wlio was very warmly clad for tliat country. 
He had on a large oval-crowned straw hat, a gown-like 
garment of fancy calico, and was protected from the sun 
by the extensively-projecting roof of the vehicle. He 
carried a long whip, which, he told us, the law required 
him to crack at every bridge, corner, or approaching car- 
riage, and, further, that at night every carriage had to 
drive before a blazing torch, held aloft by a man who 
rode behind. All of this was to guard against the risk 
of unpleasant contacts. Unfortunately, he did not thus 
enlighten us until we had rewarded him with an extra 
rupee for putting himself into a perspiration in his en- 
deavours to ' make good time,' as we thought, while in 
reality it was the law which caused him to crack his whip 
at such a fearful rate. At first we could not imagine 
what could make every one in such a hurry : every coach- 
man that we passed was cracking his long whip over the 
heads of his apparently crack-proof ponies." 

After driving a half-mile or so, we pass through an 
enclosure in which are the Government storehouses. 

" "While passing through these grounds, Bliss pointed 
out to me a heavy gun, apparently a thirty-two-pounder, 
which he said a Dutch officer had told him was much 
reverenced by the native women. 

"It seems that, like the ancient Athenians, these 
people have an idea that effect may exist without cause; 
or, rather, when the occurrence of a certain eveiy-day 
event is looked for in vain, it may be brought about by 
prayers, offerings to some deity, or the observance of 
some superstitious form. The Malay ladies therefore, 
having invested this gun with some miraculous power, 



A USEFUL GUN. 69 

are under the impression that they have only to recline 
upon it for a few moments, invoke the assistance of its 
powerful influence, stick their offerings in the ground at 
its rear, and then return home with an almost certainty 
of their prayers being answered. ' The Dutchman said 
that that gun had been there ever since the English had 
given up the colony,' continued Bliss, ' and that there is 
no telling how much longer it will remain. See there, 
the flowers and fruit and pieces of gilded paper lying 
around the breech !'" 

I had taken a chew of "betel-nut," and, having never 
heard of the fruit before, inquired concerning it, and 
wrote in my journal as follows: — 

" The betel-nut is used by the natives of both sexes, 
very much as we use cavendish, — the only difference 
being that they swallow much of the saliva. It is a sti- 
mulant, and is said to impart strength when weak from 
hunger, without any unpleasant reaction. It grows upon 
a tall, shaft-like tree, which often attains a height of from 
one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet. It is per- 
fectly free from branches, knots, or even great irregulari- 
ties of the bark. It is a single shaft from the ground 
until within a few feet of the top, when a few branches 
shoot out and produce the nut. One of them might be 
taken by a stranger for a very tall and straight cocoanut- 
tree. The preparation which they chew, and which is 
generally supposed to be simply a piece of the nut, is 
composed of equal parts of lime, the leaf, and the nut. 
It has an acrid, burning taste at first, and is far from 
unpleasant. The burning sensation proceeds from the 
leaf. 



70 THE BETEL-NUT. 

" The use of this nut gives to its consumers a most 
disgusting appearance about the mouth. They carry the 
'quid' between the lower front-teeth and the lip; and, as 
it is often as large as the half of one's thumb, and dyes 
the lips and inner membrane a bright red, they look as 
if they had just received a crushing blow in the mouth. 
It is passing strange that while the juice thus stains the 
mouth red it should convert the teeth into ebony. I 
asked one of our boatmen why he chewed it, and he said 
it was to make their teeth black. Dogs had white teeth, 
he said, and they wished to be different from dogs. He 
gave as another reason that they were ordered to do so 
by their Koran ; but this I do not believe, as they get 
their Koran from the Arabs." 

We had made the acquaintance of a Mr. L. M. Squires, 
an American resident of eleven years, and who sub- 
sequently joined the Hancock in the capacity of assistant 
naturalist. We were smoking our cheroots in the porch 
of the Amsterdam Hotel. 

"While we were thus smoking in the cool evening 
breeze, we were joined by several gentlemen, acquaint- 
ances of Mr. Squires's, and who were presented to us. 
The usual comments on the state of the weather were 
got off with happy success, and then every one began to 
wait for his neighbour to say something else. Finally, 
one of the new arrivals, an Englishman, asked me, ab- 
ruptly, if I had ever seen a native under the influence 
of the ' muck.' 

" ' The what ?' I asked. 

'•''The muck! the running muck.' 



THE RUNNING MUCIC 71 

"I replied in the negative, adding that I had never 
before heard the expression. 

" He expressed great surprise at this, and proceeded to 
tell us that the running muck was often productive of 
many deaths. 

" I thought this a rather singular piece of information 
to come by itself, but contented myself with observing, 
' You don't say so !' 

" The Englishman cleared his throat, swelled very 
large, called for a glass of ' 'arf-and-'arf,' and continued 
as follows ; — 

" ' Some few of the natives here consume quantities 
of opium in various forms ; and the result is that, in due 
course of time, their features become sharp, the skin is 
drawn over them like parchment, and, losing their 
minds, they become more ferocious and bloodthirsty 
than the tigers themselves. Armed with the long and 
flexible kreiss, (a sharp dirk-knife, whose edges are 
wavy and of beautiful temper,) they rush frantically 
from their houses, and run as swiftly as their limbs will 
carry them, — sometimes naked, sometimes clothed, 
always mad. Rushing through the crowded streets in 
this wa}^, their only aim seems to be to destroy life, — 
stabbing, biting, cursing, kicking every one whom 
chance throws across their path. 

" 'As soon as he is seen in this state, terror proclaims 
the news far and vdde. "Amoak! amoak!" is screamed 
by the whole population, just as "fire! fire!" is in our 
own cities. Every man grasps the first weapon that 
comes to hand, and follows the flying path of the com- 
mon enemy. Very long spears are, however, preferred 



72 DEATH TO THE TIGER ! 

to the shorter kreiss ; and with these they pen him up 
in a corner, and lance him to death with as much or 
more gusto than they would a tiger. As many as forty 
persons were once killed by one of these maniacs before 
he could be " cornered ;" and yet there is no law against 
the use of opium.' " 

The word " muck" is a corruption of the Javanese 
" amoak," to kill ; and this latter is seldom heard, except 
when some poor wretch is ranging the frightened town 
with strained muscles and starting eyes, and with death 
closing around his path at every stride. 

In regard to tigers, another of the party remarked 
that as many as eighteen hundred had been killed on 
the island in a single year; but I subsequently learned 
that eleven hundred was the greatest number for one 
year. The Government pays so much a head for each 
one that is destroyed, and keeps a regular account of the 
number. These animals are very destructive to cattle, 
and numbers of the natives also lose their lives yearly by 
them. 

In the interior of Java there is yet a native prince, 
who holds his power from the Dutch, receives a regular 
salary, and keeps up the shadow of their ancient cus- 
toms. He has the title of Sooletan, and we somehow 
found ourselves talking about him. My journal says : — 

" Out of his salary he must support an army of at 
least two thousand men, as quite that number is re- 
quired to make up one of his grand tiger-hunts. Then 
he has his household expenses, his harem, his dancing- 
girls, &c. Singular beings are these dancing-girls. 
Taken at a tender age from the mother's care, they are 



MALAY DANCING-GIRLS. 73 

turned over to a class of men whose only duty it is to 
arrive at the one end of having their bones and muscles 
in such a state, by the time they are matured, as to admit 
of the form being thrown into almost any position. 
They are described as happy, cheerful creatures, in spite 
of the cruelty of their early training." 

One more extract in regard to Java, and I have done. 
We were talking of pirates — Malay pirates — who hung 
around Gaspar Straits, — the very place we were going 
to survey. The subject was interesting, especially to 
nervous people who were about to venture among them: — 

" 'They are getting scarce, now, since war-steamers 
have visited us,' remarked one of the party. ' It is only 
once or twice a year that we hear of their attacking a 
ship : still, they are known to exist in numbers. You 
will have to look out for them in your little schooner: 
they would make short work of her.' I thought of the 
high sides of the Kennedy, and felt comfortable. I 
little thought that in less than a month I should be 
ordered, with a boat and six men, to join the Cooper : 
had I known it, my feelings might have been a shade 
less placid." 

We are again under all sail, beating up for our work- 
ing-ground. 



CHAPTER Y. 

•WE EEACH GASPAE STEAITS, AND COMMENCE QUE SUEVET BY FIEINQ A GUN 

1 AJfl OEDEEED ON TEMPOEAET DUTY, WHICH LASTS FOUE MONTHS 

AND ENABLES ME TO VISIT SINGAPOEE — VAST PEEPAEATIONS OF AN 
ALAEMIST TO EECEIVE PIRATES, AND THE WAY IN WHICH WE LEAENED 
THE MEANING OF THE MALAY WOED " MAN-AE-E." 

Ir was on the morning of the 10th of January, 1854, 
that we fired our first gun for " base by sound." We 
were in Gaspar Straits, lat. 3° 19' S., long. 106° 40' E. 
The "rear division" — as we called our portion of the 
squadron — had begun the long-talked-of survey. I will 
indulge in a few remarks in regard to this work, and 
then pass on to more interesting matter. 

These straits — which are the door through which nine- 
tenths of the world's trade with* China passes — had never 
been properly surveyed, were said to be full of hidden 
dangers, and were known to be washed by strong and 
uncertain currents. 

"We bent to our task with the spirit and energy of 
"new brooms," — worked through rain, wind, sharks, 
tigers, snakes, &c. — and on the 15th of May it was done. 
We came out of this work without the loss of a man, and 
the result of our labours was satisfactory in the extreme. 
"We found 5ome parts of some charts correct ; but, generally 
speaking, they were woefully out. We found dozens of 
rocks and shoals where all the charts gave safe water, and 

74 



HOW UNDERWRITERS ARE SWINDLED. 75 

we found blue water where all the charts located rocks 
and shoals. "We found, also, evidences of fraud and 
rascality on the part of ship-masters toward the 
underwriters. In regard to the latter let my journal 
speak : — 

"Captain Rodgers has just found the wreck of the 
* Memnon,' lying off the northwest point of Pulo Leat, 
(Leat Island.) When the water is smooth and polished, 
you can look down from a boat and see every thing very 
plainly; and, as there was a fine, heavy anchor lying 
under her bow, Bridge hitched on to it with the launch 
and hoisted it up. It is now on board of the Hancock, 
and will probably sell in Hong-Kong for two ,or three 
hundred dollars : quite a healthy sum to be divided among 
sixty men the first time they go on shore. 

" The captain of this vessel reported, when she was 
lost, that he ' had struck on a rock that was some miles 
from any land and put down on no chart:' hence, the 
underwriters paid the loss. Had they known that an 
ignorant or careless man had run his ship upon a rock 
within pistol-shot of a large island during broad daylight, 
they would have saved their money. Of course, we will 
hunt no more for the 'Memnon Eock,' — the hidden 
danger on which the ship was said to have struck." 

During the survey we made several discoveries similar 
to this. We erased from the chart all such imaginary 
dangers, dotted it with others which really existed and 
which had previously been unknown, and really accom- 
plished a vast amount of work during the four months 
that we were engaged upon it. Too much credit cannot 
be awarded to Commander John Rodgers for the manner 



76 THE LITTLE COOPER. 

in whicli our work was laid out, or to those who assisted 
liim in its execution. 

During these four months we met with various adven- 
tures ; some amusing, some exciting, others that were 
full of peril to life and limb. Let me again open my 
journal : — 

" Jan. 14, 1854. — ^Yesterday morning, the schooner 
ran under our stern, and hailed us to the effect that 
Commander Rodgers had ordered an officer and boat to 
be detached from the Kennedy, to assist in their part of 
the work. There was some hesitation at first as to who 
the officer should be ; but, as I had, unfortunately, once 
expressed myself in favour of small vessels, I was finally 
sent. I had a boat and six men placed under me, and 
was ordered to report myself to Captain Stevens, the 
worthy officer in charge of the schooner. The latter 
being too small to stow either my boat or the crew, the 
former is towed astern at night, while the latter find 
beds about the spar-deck as best they can. This is all 
very pleasant as long as fair weather lasts; but when 
men have been working hard for fourteen hours they 
don't fancy sleeping in the rain during the remaining 
ten. Stevens, myself, and Baber, the master, are the 
only occupants of the cabin; and there are twenty 
men on the berth-deck, and six about the upper — in 
spots. So much for our little schooner and her 
hardy crew. May she steer clear of pirates and heavy 
seas!" 

We have been hard at work for some weeks, are run- 
DJjQg short of wood and water, and find it necessary to go 
somewhere to obtain supplies : — 



AN UNPLEASANT MOUTHFUL. 77 

"At 7 A.M. all three vessels got under way and ran 
down for an anchorage under Selio Island, where we 
came to, abreast of a stream of fresh water and a perfect 
forest of seasoned firewood that Stevens had discovered 
a few days previous. This island is some four miles in 
length by one in width, and differs from all others we 
have yet visited in having lakes in its centre and running 
streams dividing its beach. In consequence of the fresh 
water, various wild animals abound in its jungle, among 
which I may mention deer and wild hogs as the most 
plentiful. There are any number of snakes also ; and a 
greater variety of insects than is pleasant. Of these latter 
there is a mammoth spider, formidable if only through 
his size and extreme ugliness. He spreads his heavy web 
across nine open spaces (the jungle is hardly penetrable) 
out of ten, coils himself away in its centre, and is ready 
to dart upon his prey or have his fabric destroyed by the 
passer-by, as the case may be. Running once after a 
wounded hog, I was so unfortunate as to get one of them 
half-way into my mouth, and before I could get clear of 
him I had to shell out of my coat and knock him off; 
with his long legs he had crawled over upon my back." 

A great hunt came off on this island before we carried 
the vessels there. Baber and myself, wishing to try 
"camping out," took the boat and remained on it all 
night, after one of our day's work. The men also were 
in high glee at the idea of shooting the deer before they 
were awake : it was a regular spree. "We carried with 
lis a camp-kettle, a piece of salt pork, bread, coffee, &c., 
and, upon arriving at the beach, got our tent pitched and 
a large fire kindled just as night came on. The tent we 



78 A MATINAL BATH. 

made out of the boat's sail ; and for a bed we had 
two thicknesses of cotton canvas between us and the 
ground. 

We made a very comfortable supper, smoked our pipes, 
lay down with our feet to the fire, and imagined that we 
were going to sleep. One hour later we were all in the 
boat, the fire grew dim, and the mosquito s and sand- 
bugs danced the dance and sung the song of a bloody 
victory: we had been literally driven off. The next 
morning we awoke at break of day and proceeded to 
land. 

It had been low-tide when we returned to the boat ; it 
was now quite high : the water had been knee-deep then ; 
it was now over one's head. One of the men, in his sleepy 
drowsiness, stepped out of the boat to lift the anchor and 
wade her to the beach. The result may be imagined : — a 
heavy plunge, much subsequent puflang and splashing, 
and a great deal of hearty laughing. 

It was hardly daylight when we entered the jungle, and 
we hunted bravely until near noon. During this time we 
fired at several heavy short-legged deer, put a drove of 
wild hogs of all ages and sexes to a grunting flight, killed 
several ugly snakes, and finally returned to the ship in 
great disgust. 

Selio is not inhabited, but is visited periodically by 
Malay fishermen for the purpose of catching and drying 
the fresh-water fish which exist in its lakes by shoals. 
The growth of trees upon it is remarkable, many of them 
being upward of one hundred and fifty feet high. "We 
killed a number of large wild pigeons in their branches, and 
subsequently found this bird so plentiful on other islands 



PERILOUS POSITION OF "BUST-PROOF." 79 

that two men with muskets killed several hundred as an 
evening's work. 

Two days sufficed to fill us with wood and water, and 
on the third day we were again at work. And now we 
experienced a terrible fright on account of old "bust- 
proof," his master, and Lieutenant Eussell. They had 
left the ship, as usual, at an early hour : it had soon come 
on to blow hard, the sea had risen with singular rapidity, 
and twenty-four hours had passed without their return : 
we began to fear they might have swamped. With his 
usual readiness of action. Commander Rodgers got up 
the Hancock's anchor and ran down to leeward in search 
of them. The next day he returned with their boat in 
tow. 

They had had a hard time; old "bust-proof" was 
irreparably rusted by the rain, and the others were 
awfully hungry and distressingly seedy. They had 
been able to keep the boat afloat only by constant exer- 
tion, and were about to succumb when the Hancock 
hove in sight. Old "bust-proof didn't go out again for 
some time. 

After we had been working some two months, the 
schooner was ordered to proceed to Singapore, (distant 
some three hundred miles,) to communicate VTith the 
consul, and return as soon as possible. I was so fortunate 
as to remain by her during the trip, and on the 7th of 
March w^e found ourselves at anchor oft' that city. 

While Stevens and myself were stepping into a sampan 
to go on shore, a light row-boat -pulled alongside, in the 
centre of which stood a very black Hindoo with a very 
white turban around his head. He introduced himself 



80 WE VISIT SINGAPORE. 

as follows : — " Me Mohammed ! — consul-man. Plenty, 
oil ! ])lenty letter at consul-house for American man-war." 
But I will say nothing more of letters ; for there was but 
one for me, and that a half-year old. 

"We went to the consul's, and thence to the London 
Hotel, where we tasted a bottle of sour Bordeaux, drank 
another of pale ale, and engaged a room at two dollars a 
day. 

I will be brief in regard to our treatment while in that 
city. I will only say that, from the governor down to 
the ship-chandlers, there seemed to be a determination 
that we should never dine at the hotel. Such hospi- 
tality I never saw before. In company with the consul, 
we went to call upon the governor's family shortly after 
our arrival. 

" We got into our undress uniform, then into a car- 
riage, which we hired for a dollar a day, and after a five 
minutes' drive commenced winding around the hill 
which towers over the city, and upon the crest of 
which stands the palace. This spiral road was a mile 
or more in length, and wormed through the tastefully 
laid-out grounds in the centre of which stood the 
edifice. "We drove through groves of the fragrant nut- 
meg and of the luscious mangosteen, crushing the pre- 
cious fruit under our wheels and breathing the perfumed 
air that cooled our brows. It fully realized my idea of an 
Eastern scene : it was one of those drives that flush the 
cheek of the invalid and difiuse a dreamy languor 
through the frame of health; it was grand. As we 
thus wound around the hill, we gazed upon a con- 
stantly-changing scene. We saw the whole of Singa- 



THE PALACE HEIGHT. 81 

pore twice over; for the palace rose out of the centre 
of the town almost, overlooking every thing. Thus we 
looked down upon the city by piecemeal at first, and 
finally, upon reaching the summit, took in ' the whole' 
at a revolving glance, — the city, the hay, the opposite 
land, the hack-country with its dense jungle, and the 
immediate grounds around our feet. This also was 
grand. 

" We were ushered into the reception-room by a 
fancifully-liveried native, and were soon after met by 
the ladies. We found Mrs. and Miss Butterworth most 
accomplished personages, and passed a pleasant fifteen 
minutes. They showed us a stone which had lately 
been brought from a mountain in the island of Banca, 
(one of those around which we were surveying,) and 
which exerted a powerful influence over the needle: 
" every one called it a loadstone. Stevens, having found 
that it would not attract a cambric-needle, pronounced it 
a singular iron-ore ; and such subsequently proved to be 
its nature." 

We had been riding around in our one-dollar vehicle 
to see the sights. Here is one of them, a Chinese 
temple : — 

" As we entered through the massive stone-work, we 
. were followed by a dozen or more loafing Chinamen, 
who stopped their gambling (gambling in the very 
porch of their temple !) to watch our movements. We 
were very respectful at first, for fear of alarming their 
jealousy, throwing away our cigars and taking off our 
hats. These loafers, however, motioned us to light 
other cigars and to resume our covering, and were so 



82 THE SPIRITS OF GOOD AND EVIL. 

attentive as to bring us fire. They also spit on the 
smooth and polished floor, to show us, I suppose, that 
we were at liberty to do likewise. In addition to all 
this, they advanced to the chancel and commenced a 
series of violent bends and gesticulations for our in- 
formation. They were showing us how they paid their 
devotions. They stood before a massive altar, decked 
out after the manner of the Romish Church, having 
upon its right a colossal statue of a very benign old 
gentleman, and upon its left a similar one with the 
most hideously-diabolical expression that I ever saw. 
The one on the right shone as the concentration of 
every thing good, and extended his left hand in an 
endless blessing. He of the left — the rampant power 
of evil — settled his gaze of eternal hate and defiance 
upon the averted eye of the first, and grasped a bleeding 
heart in his uplifted hand. It was to this latter that all 
the devotions were addressed: no one looked at the 
other. "We gave them a half-crown for putting them- 
selves into a perspiration by their furious pantomime, 
and continued our drive." 

"We were driving out to the hospital of Dr. Little, 
where many of our men were on their backs. It seems- 
that over two months of exposure, toil, and privation, 
had done its work. Seven out of the twenty men 
composing the crew had been taken with the fever 
previous to our arrival, and been sent on shore as soon 
as possible to give them the benefit of comfortable 
quarters. Stevens, too, was placed hors de combat by 
a bruised hand, and Baber and myself were taking it 
turn-and-turn-about to indulge in chills or something 



HAD ENOUGH OF SURVEYING. 83 

of that sort: we were fit for any thing but a return 
to our labours. 

As a general thing, one of us made it convenient to 
visit our helpless shipmates daily. They were a superior 
class of men to the general run of sailors ; they could all 
read, and they derived great satisfaction from the papers 
which we took them. This hospital of the doctor's was 
situated outside of the city, in the midst of his vast nut- 
meg-plantation ; and as we now, in the continuation 
of our drive, passed through a wide gateway and en- 
tered upon the latter sweet-smelling hundred-acre lot, 
we met the owner on his way into town. He turned 
and accompanied us back to the hospital, where we 
found two men delirious but the others doing better. I 
may as well remark here that, after keeping the schooner 
at anchor some weeks in hopes of their recovery, we 
were finally forced to leave three of them in charge 
of the consul, with instructions to forward them to us 
should they recover. They did recover during the next 
month, and, having had enough of surveying, took care 
to forward themselves ofi" by the first ship. They de- 
serted, and I could not blame them ; for the work on 
which we were to be steadily engaged for years was 
enough to break down jackasses, and they were not 
paid half the wages they could command in merchant- 
ships for doing half the amount of work. It is to be 
hoped that Congress will reward the men who were too 
honest to desert, and who returned to their homes after 
that miserable cruise with bowed heads and broken 
frames, the wrecks of what they were at its com- 
mencement. 



84 NUTMEG PLANTATIONS. 

As we returned througli his orcliard of nutmeg-trees, 
the doctor indulged us with a few remarks in regard to 
their culture, &c. ; and, as nine people out of ten use 
nutmeg in some form, I will repeat here what was then 
said about them. 

It took the planter twenty years to get his trees well 
covered with fruit, he said, as he had to raise them from 
the nutmeg itself. The process was this : — 

A man bought a hundred acres of ground, and planted 
nutmegs over it at a distance of from twelve to twenty feet 
apart. At the end of eight years the trees have grown 
and many of them bear fruit, and he can thus tell the 
male tree from the female. All of the former (one to 
every dozen females excepted) are now dug up and cast 
away and another nutmeg planted in their place. Then, 
at the end of eight more years, another culling process 
takes place, and more nutmegs are planted. In this 
way the twenty years are soon consumed. 

The doctor added that if either of us would rig a 
purchase for distinguishing between the male and female 
nutmeg, we might make millions of money by going 
around to the clifi'erent plantations, picking out the 
latter, and thus enabling men to get a plantation under 
full headway in eight instead of sixteen or twenty-four 
years. 

"These trees," he continued, " bear all the year through. 
You must have men to go daily from one to the other, 
picking the fruit as it ripens. It is generally the first 
thing done in the morning. In this way each tree will 
give you several nutmegs daily, probably as many as 
twelve hundred during the year." So much for nutmegs. 



THE LAST OF THE OPIUM SMUGGLERS. 85 

Taking dinner one day witli Dr. Little, we were 
associated with a Captain and Mrs. Francis, the former 
of whom I could not but admire as a bold seaman and 
successful trader, while the latter challenged the admira- 
tion of every one by her extreme beauty and elegance of 
manner. They were the last of their band, — this opium- 
smuggler and his beautiful wife. 

"Why don't you give up the trade, Francis?" asked 
the doctor. " Don't you see that your brig is the only 
one left out of twenty-two sail? and don't you know 
that all are beggars who have gone before you ?" 

"No; I don't know any thing of the sort," replied 
Francis. "There is , and , who are comfort- 
able yet; and I have got some thousands of pounds 
myself to fall back upon when I break down. As long 
as the brig lasts I'm bound to hang by her." 

I looked at his wife, and I thought I saw a brightening 
of the eye and a swelling of the breast as he thus spoke of 
the future. I looked at him, and saw the last of a resolute 
and desperate band who for years had defied the Chinese 
authorities and held the slow poison to the lips of the 
opium-smoker. I looked, and knew not whether most 
to admire or condemn this the last of those resolute 
adventurers, half merchant-captains, half pirates, who 
had for years devoted themselves to the perilous service 
of the Calcutta and Bombay merchants. Here is what 
that service was : — 

The demand for opium in China caused great quanti- 
ties of it to be shipped from Calcutta and Bombay. The 
Chinese authorities, seeing the injury it was effecting on 
the whole nation, stationed war-junks along their coasts 



86 RECKLESS SAILING. 

to prevent its being landed. Reckless men, with armed 
followers and fast vessels, stepped forward, and engaged 
to land the poison under the very bows of the war-junks 
and to bring back silver in return. Their vessels were 
armed as well as their followers; they received high 
wages, and threw away their money in riot and dissipa- 
tion. If necessary, they went through blood : the opium 
must he landed at every risk; the lives of a few dozen 
Imperial sailors were nothing. While at sea, they kept 
clear heads, and devoted their entire attention to the one 
great thing of making a quick passage. Masts and sails 
Avere nothing to them: time was all they looked to. 
They gloried in heavy weather when it urged them 
ahead, and became fretfal and desperate when it threw 
them back. It wanted reckless men to lead such a 
reckless life. "Prudence is the better part of valour" 
wouldn't have applied to them. 

Our little schooner was a source of wonder and sur- 
prise to both the foreign and native population of Singa- 
pore. The former pulled around her in their light sam- 
pans, admired her beauty, and complimented us upon 
our reckless hardihood in trusting our lives to such 
an atom for a cruise around the world ; the latter com- 
pared her to a large phrau, and accused us of having 
stolen the lines of that peculiar vessel before building 
her. Both parties laughed at the idea of her weathering 
a typhoon : they knew not how much it took to smother 
a Kew-York pilot-boat when she lies-to under a close- 
reefed foresail. 

Let me again turn to my journal: — 

"A singular worm is to be seen on the surface of this 



AN OCEAN CENTIPEDE. 87 

harbour wlien tlie water is smooth and polished, during 
the absence of all wind. It is from three to four inches 
in length, has its body made up of a hundred joints 
apparently, has hundreds of centipede-like legs along 
its entire sides, is covered with a short fine hair or fuzz, 
and swims quickly and with a zigzag track. The natives 
fear their bite greatly, and invariably destroy them when 
they can. They have bright red eyes, and are altogether 
most disgusting-looking wretches. One of the boatmen 
dipped me up several, which I transferred to a bottle full 
of spirits of wine, much to their annoyance. They died 
hard, and emitted a bluish fluid, which the natives said 
was poison. These latter gloated over their spasmodic 
and protracted efforts to escape from the spirits, pretty 
much as old sailors admire the expiring agonies . of a 
dying shark." 

On the 23d of March, Stevens concluded that he 
had-^ waited long enough for the sick to recover, and 
got up the anchor on our return. We had a fair passage 
to Selio Island, where we were to have fallen in with 
the Hancock and Kennedy, but, seeing nothing of them, 
had to start off on a hunt. We found them, at the 
end of twenty-four hours, snugly stowed away under the 
lee of a number of pigeon-islands, and, after telling 
them the news, asked theirs in return. 

We found that they had passed through several ad- 
ventures during our absence, some unpleasant and one 
quite amusing : but let them speak for themselves. 

" Dr. Alexander, of the Hancock, was attacked by 
sharks while wading on a reef in search of shells, and 
came near being carried off. Fortunately the water was 



88 A FIGHT WITH SHARKS. 

only knee-deep, and he, retaining his presence of mind, 
was enabled to keep a pretty firm footing, while by well- 
directed thrusts with a long bowie-knife, which he drew 
from his back, he succeeded in keeping them ofi' until 
the boat came to his assistance. Then he got into her 
with amazing agility and inquired into his damages. He 
found himself minus his right boot-leg, a large piece 
of the right leg of his drawers, and a small piece of the 
skin from his right calf. The shark had evidently a 
fancy for his right leg below the knee." 

Shortly after this adventure the Hancock ran short of 
coal and returned to Batavia for more, leaving the Ken- 
nedy at Selio Island to make tidal observations. These 
observations were to be made on a rock known as 
"White Rock," some miles from the ship and entirely 
cut ofi" from the island. Lieutenant J. H. Russell was 
ordered upon the duty, and had with him a small boat, 
three men, a tent, and cooking-utensils. The boat was 
also armed and provisioned, as was the general order, in 
case of some unlooked-for accident, and they got along 
very smoothly for some days. Let my journal tell the 
rest : — 

" One morning he rubbed his eyes and looked in vain 
for the boat. Then he called in vain for two of the men. 
Finally he searched in vain for enough provisions to 
make a breakfast for himself and his remaining com- 
panion, and then began to feel that he had been 
weathered. Smith and Loughead had loaded the boat 
. with every thing edible and drinkable, and departed for 
'parts unknown:' our work was too hard for them. 
This discovery was no sooner made than they began to 



MORE DESERTION. 89 

think they migiit by some means starve during the next 
week, and so resorted to several ingenious devices for 
attracting attention to their situation. A mere accident 
relieved them during the next day." The ship was im- 
mediately got under way for Batavia, from whence a re- 
ward was announced among the different islands, which 
resulted in their final capture and they and the boat 
&c. being forwarded to us at Hong-Kong. They had 
landed on an island, in a very hungry and used-up state, 
and had tried to pass themselves off as shipwrecked 
sailors; but the police were too well informed as to 
their true character to admit of their yarn being ac- 
cepted. 

The amusing incident was as follows : — 

" The Hancock, having anchored near an island about 
which she had been surveying during the day, was left 
in charge of thirty fathoms of chain and the officer of 
the watch, while every one else had gradually retired to 
their beds. There had been much talk about this time 
in relation to 'Malay pirates,' how they boarded ships 
in their phraus at night, murdered all hands, &c. &c. ; 
and the possibility of such an attack caused us to keep 
constantly on guard, simply as a measure of prudence. 
There was really no cause for men of even ordinary 
firmness to feel nervous, however; but, unfortunately, 
there was an ' alarmist' on board, who was always imagin- 
ing his throat cut, a snake "under his pillow, or something 
of the sort ; and who never went to bed without screw- 
ing in his air-port, (thermometer at 100°,) locking the 
door of his state-room, and arming himself in the most 
formidable manner. He had gone to bed this night as 



90 WHAT "MAiSr-AR" MEANS IN MALAY. 

usual, with a Sharpe's rifle, double-barrelled gun, two 
revolvers, a bowie-knife, &c. &c., and was just getting 
into a doze wbeu the quartermaster's hoarse voice 
reached him from the deck, — 

" ' Boat ahoy-y-ye !' 

"He grasped his guns, first one and then the other, 
and finally sat bolt upright, a revolver in each hand. 

"'Hey, fellows! what is it?' he asked of several as 
they passed his room, purposely exclaiming that pirates 
were approaching. 

"'A swarm of phraus are pulling toward us,' an- 
swered a hurried voice, as its owner passed rapidly to 
the upper deck ; ' bring your arms along- 

"In a few minutes all hands were on deck, gazing 
curiously toward the suspected objects, while the 
quartermaster was getting hoarser and hoarser with 
continued hailing. They looked like boats moving 
stealthily toward the ship. 

" ' Hail them in Malay, Mr. Squires,' said Commander 
Eodgers. 

"Squires threw himself back and drew a long breath: 
— ' Phrau man-a-a-ar !' 

"ISTo answer. 'They must have some bad object, or 
they would answer,' hazarded the unsteady voice of a 
semi-alarmist. 

"'Phrau man-a-a-ar!' Still no answer. 

"'Say phrau man-ar ahoy, Squires,' suggested a laugh- 
ing voice at his elbow. 

'"Get out with your fun!' exclaimed the hailer, in a 
voice of half-forced jocularity; 'don't you know that 
man-ar means ahoy ?' 



FLOATING ISLANDS. 91 

"A general laugh here caused him to cough nervously 
and renew the hail: — 'Phrau man-a-ar!' 

'"Lower a boat, Mr. Bridges,' at length ordered the 
captain, ' and send her to see what they are ; we may hail 
here all night.' So the boat was lowered and pulled ofi' 
toward the piratical phraus. They proved to be small 
floating islets of brushwood and densely packed grass 
drifting with the current; and the discovery was no 
sooner made than our alarmist was on deck. 

"'Why, where are your guns?' asked one. 

'"Jist mind your own bisness, will ye?' Fortunately 
for the navy, our alarmist subsequently became disgusted 
with the expedition, and left the service of his country 
for the retirement of a country-life." 

These and many similar incidents were now laid before 
us in return for the letters we had brought; and, as a 
kind of dessert to the reunion, they showed us a sick-list 
which seemed to proclaim the survey at an end : nearly 
half our force was hors de combat, and the other half 
was composed of men whose overtaxed muscles moved 
slowly to the daily work Still, we hung to it bravely, and 
were soon rewarded with the most entire success: the 
survey of Gaspar Straits was ended. The Hancock and 
Kennedy left for Hong-Kong, vid Singapore, with their 
crippled crews, toward its close, and left the Cooper and 
my boat to fill in a few soundings and sail for the former 
place direct in a few days. We were destined to pass 
through some suffering and a vast deal of alarm and 
anxiety before the expiration of that time ; but we knew 
it not then, and went on our careless way. 



CHAPTER YI. 

AVE ARE DESERTED BY THE HANCOCK AND KENNEDY, AND FIND OURSELVES 
CALLED UPON TO ENJOY A MOONLIGHT WALK, WHICH PROVES TO BE SO 

PLEASANT THAT WE CONTINUE THE EXERCISE FOR TWO DAYS WE VISIT 

A MALAY VILLAGE, AND ARE CAUTIONED AGAINST THE FEROCITY OF CHI- 
NESE DOGS. 

We were now alone, — ^we and our little schooner, and 
our still smaller boats, — alone upon the confines of our 
past working-ground, to linger there a while and then 
follow our consorts. We immediately entered upon the 
execution of the task which had been left us ; we again 
commenced the interminable soundings, the frequent 
angling, the prolonged night-work over the skeleton 
chart and the smooth deck-board. Time rolled on. 

On the evening of a dark and stormy Saturday night 
we anchored near the island of Banca, spread our thin 
cotton awning between us and the driving rain, and 
looked with thankfulness to the day of rest which stood 
between us and any further work. That night we slept 
well and refreshingly ; Stevens, myself, and Baber, in the 
contracted cabin, and our twenty-five men upon the far 
more cramped and uncomfortable berth-deck. The next 
morning the storm was over, a bright sun ushered in the 
sacred day and lit up the gloomy depths of the tropical 
jungle near which we were anchored. 

There were tall trees growing out of the dense under- 
growth, and patches of short, smooth grass between it 

92 



THE OCCUPANTS OF THE JUNGLE. 93 

and the shining beach. Altogether, it had a most inviting 
look. So, after we had eaten our plain breakfast and got 
through with the usual Sunday muster, the captain and 
Baber took our two boats and landed for a stroll : it was 
so pleasant to have nothing to do and to stoop for shells 
upon a shining beach. 

The boats pulled in different directions, but returned 
about the same time; they had a common object draw- 
ing them back, — a Sunday dinner. The last of our 
roosters, an old weather-beaten fellow who had crowed 
alone for weeks around the limited deck, had breathed 
his last. 

They came back and gave me such glowing accounts 
of the green grass, and of the rustling of the wind 
through the tall trees, that I longed myself to roll upon 
the smooth turf, to pick up shells upon the hard sand 
beach, and to listen to the mstling of the wind through 
the overhanging foliage. So another party was arranged, 
and, after the rooster had been attended to, we got into 
the cutter and pulled on shore. The party consisted of 
Stevens, myself, and a number of the crew; and we were 
all armed with carbine and pistol, though not with any 
idea of hunting. We armed ourselves simply as a means 
of defence, for Baber and his whole boat's crew had been 
chased from a pool of rain-water by " some large ani- 
mal," while two of the captain's men had seen the tail 
and hind-legs of a tiger. The captain himself had also 
seen the tracks of deer, hogs, monkeys, and panthers, or 
tigers, he could not say which; and, as Tanjong-Brekat 
(the name of the promontory under which we were 
anchored) was known far and wide as the haunt of 



94 A CONVINCING ARGUMENT. 

various wild animals, we thouglit it better to be pre- 
pared. 

Upon landing, we hauled up the boat above high-water 
mark, after which Stevens gave orders for all hands to be 
back by sunset, and cautioned them to keep together as 
much as possible, as there were known to be both pan- 
thers and tigers in the jungle of those large islands. He 
ended by pointing out the tracks he had seen in the 
morning, and repeating his caution in regard to their keep- 
ing company. The sight of those huge hollows, which 
had evidently been imprinted since the last tide, caused 
some of them to glance back at the schooner as they fol- 
lowed a small path that took them through the jungle to 
the opposite beach : the sight of the tracks had had the 
desired effect ; they kept as close together as the nature 
of the path would admit. 

"We now started for a point of the island that was 
about two miles off, keeping upon the hard sand of the 
beach, and, with the exception of a few projecting points 
of rock that caused us to wade through the water, 
had a cool and shady walk. At the end of a mile we 
crossed a running stream of cool, fresh water, and, after 
rounding the point, came upon another. This latter 
oozed through the sand on our right, and caused us to 
ascend the elevation to see where it came from. We 
found a beautiful little pond, into the upper end of which 
the waters of the low back-land emptied and subse- 
quently worked their way through the sandbank into 
the sea. 

The beach of this pond was of a dark-blue sand, and 
its inner banks were of a soft and velvet-like turf: the 



ADMIRABLE LEECHES. 95 

heavy trees spread their densely-leaved branches over it, 
and shut out the sun even from its centre. It was not 
more than a hundred yards in circumference, and its 
waters were singularly clear and limpid. It was one of 
the most beautiful little natural basins that I ever saw. 
It looked so cool and inviting that we took off our heavy 
boots and waded into it up to our knees. Singular to 
say, the water was very warm, and we soon found it to be 
swarming with leeches ; — a most admirable specimen of 
leech, too, if we might judge from the activity with 
which they attacked us. We got to the beach in a very 
few strides, and pulled them off from our bleeding feet : 
they had cut through the skin at the first bite. My 
journal goes on to say: — 

"It still wanted a half-hour of sunset when we got 
back to the boat, and, finding but one man returned, we 
rolled back on the grass to let the time pass. The men 
came in slowly, in fours, in threes, never less than in 
'pairs. Two were yet missing, and it was already dusk. 
"We waited until dark, and then began to tremble for 
their safety. The last three men who had come in now 
spoke up, saying that they had left them on the other 
beach some three hours back, and that they were still 
walking away from the boat when they themselves had 
struck through the jungle, to return by a shorter cut, as 
they imagined: that was all they knew about them. 
They themselves, having got lost in the bushes, had 
climbed a high rock to sight the beach if possible, and 
while there had fired a gun in hopes that some one 
would answer them. Their gun had no sooner exploded 
than an awful roar had burst out near them, causing a 



96 WE STOP AND TREMBLE. 

hurried flight, as they thought, toward the beach they 
had left, but which fortunately took them to that on 
which the boat was. 

"We now fired several volleys without any answer, save 
a dismal howl, and returned on board to get more anlmu- 
nition and prepare for a night's search. We thought 
they might have retreated to the branches of some tree 
along the edge of the other beach, and that if we walked 
up it several miles, firing volleys and shouting, they 
might hear us and come out. We feared to penetrate 
the jungle at night: it would have been madness. 

"Another half-hour passed and found us again on 
shore. We were seven able-bodied men, all armed to 
the teeth, and confident of being able to face even a 
tiger: we entered the narrow path and crossed the jungle 
to the opposite beach. We found their tracks and fol- 
lowed them up the beach for an hour or more, keeping as 
near the water as possible, so as to have a broad, open 
space between us and any animal that might spring upon 
us from the jungle, and firing volleys and shouting every 
ten minutes. 

"At the end of this hour's walk we suddenly lost the 
tracks, and, going back to regain them, found that they 
led into the jungle. The pale moon came out about this 
time and showed us a third track, smaller and rounder 
than the others, — the track of some animal, an animal 
that had claws. A thrill of horror passed through our 
hearts as we bent over this last track: itfoUoioed the others 
into the jungle, and the pale moon strove in vain to light 
us farther ; we stopped and trembled. 

"About this time one of the men remarked that he 



OFFICERS SHOULD ALWAYS TAKE THE LEAD. 97 

smelt a goat, and another sprang violently from tlie 
jungle. "We heard a rushing sound, too, like that made 
by a large animal bursting through the bushes, and the 
man who had sprung back said, in a faltering voice, that 
he had seen a tiger. I remembered once hearing Squires 
say that a tiger smelt like a goat, and felt hope die within 
me. The captain cast an anxious glance into the dark 
forest ahead of us, and slowly stepped back to the water's 
edge. 'Come!'. he said; 'there is no use going farther: 
we will do what we can for them to-morrow.' So we 
returned on board, and after five hours' sleep were again 
on the tramp. 

" The party was still composed of seven men, and as 
we struck boldly into the jungle the morning sun gave 
"US but a subdued light, — no ray. We entered in single 
file, the captain leading and I bringing up the rear, — a 
most unpleasant station, after I had recalled to mind the 
fact that a crouching tiger always waits for the last man. I 
began to feel very brave, and to remark, in a careless 
manner, that ' officers should always take the lead.' The 
captain only laughed : he imagined very well what I was 
thinking about. 

"We walked all that day, fired volley after volley, and 
made ourselves hoarse with shouting: still no answer, 
save an occasional howl similar to the one we had heard 
the preceding evening. We killed several ugly, flat- 
headed snakes, a huge, poisonous-looking lizard, and a 
small deer : the latter we cooked for dinner. We found 
the jungle getting thicker and becoming broken by 
swampy flats as we progressed, and had discovered a 
leaden-coloured snake that seemed to live coiled round 



yS TERRIBLE WALKING. 

the branches of the lower bushes just about as high as 
we usually carried our heads : this was ])articularly plea- 
sant, — worse even than being the '■last man.' I think of 
that walk even now and shudder. It was after dark 
when we reached the schooner ; and we returned without 
hope. Before turning in it was determined to start again 
on the morrow, leaving but one well man and the sick to 
look out for the vessel. We thought to find some sign 
that could determine their fate ; at any rate, we could not 
give them up without another trial. 

" The morrow came, and our swelled feet and aching 
muscles moved us slowly into the boat. "We had walked 
some twenty miles on the previous day, through the 
dense jungle and miry swamps, and over broken rocks 
and abrupt elevations, and were hardly fit for another 
tramp. "We had wrung blood from our stockings when 
we had bathed our feet at dinner-time, and yet sunrise 
found us again entering the jungle. 

" The boat which landed us we sent some miles up the 
beach, with orders to anchor at a certain point and keep 
up a regular discharge of musketry until sundown. 
Three men were detailed for this service, and they were 
ordered to fire every half-hour. 

" The rest of us — ten in number — ^were fully armed, and 
carried, in addition to our own provisions, a two-pound 
tin of meat-biscuit, in case we should find the men in an 
exhausted state. "We now gave up the single-file idea, 
and tried to spread over a wide area by walking abreast 
of each other, keeping from ten to twenty paces between 
each man and the next on either hand; but the utter 
impossibility of progressing in that style soon demon- 



I CONCLUDE NOT TO DRINK. 99 

strated itself and forced us back to following in each 
others' tracks. Stevens, myself, and three men, were 
now all that were left of the previous day's party ; two 
of them, having been unable to move, were left on board, 
and the fresh hands who had joined us, with Baber at 
their head, kept up such a brisk pace that it was with 
difficulty we could keep company. In the course of a 
few hours, however, they quieted down considerably and 
gave us the lead again. 

" Suddenly, we were brought to a halt in a most gloomy 
and unpromising locality; a rough, black, perpendicular 
wall of granite rose directly in front of us, whose 
height was probably fifty feet, whose broken front was 
hung with an ivy-like growth, whose right and left ex- 
tremes disappeared in a jungle more gloomy and closely 
packed than ever, and whose partially-visible base was 
washed by a sluggish and half-stagnant pool. 'No ray of 
sunlight reached us there ; the most that the vertical sun 
could do was to diffuse a subdued light like that of a 
stormy evening. Every thing else was bushes and water 
and rock. 

"We had walked long without water, and, as we stopped 
on the edge of this pool, which was filled with old leaves 
and limbs of fallen trees, I stooped down to try its taste 
and temperature. I soon arose without drinking ; for a 
small, three-inch snake, doubtless alarmed at the disturb- 
ance, swam away directly from under my mouth. I was 
only too thankful that he had not swum into it. I now 
turned around to look for a leaf large enough to make 
a cup of, and, seeing one of the men passing some I 
thought would suit, asked him to pick me one. I then 



100 THE AGONY OF TERROK. 

m 

turned to find a clear place to dip from, — a place in 
wMch three-incli snakes would be apparent if there. In 
the mean time, the rest of the party had been arrested by 
the wall farther to the left, and were singing out to know 
if it could be passed on our side. Suddenly, I was stag- 
gering sideways toward my rifle with a confused idea 
that I should have it in my hands, and my face turned 
toward my companion. 

"A scream — such a scream as never before reached 
me, such a one as I hope never to hear again — was ring- 
ing in my frightened ear its painful notes of agonized 
terror. It drove the tumultuous blood to my startled 
heart and sent a shivering feeling of despair through my 
unnerved limbs. It reached our distant friends and was 
echoed back by their alarmed rally-cry — 'A tiger! a 
tiger!' — and the sound of rushing feet that bore their 
owners to the doubtful rescue. It was one of those cries 
of dire extremity, of helpless agony, that drag man to his 
fellow-man in spite of difficulty and danger and death. 
I turned upon the scene with levelled gun. 

" It was an awful one : the agony of terror is always 
awful. 

"With bent frame and livid and distorted features, a 
strong man was gripping between his knees a bleeding 
hand. Terror had almost deprived him of speech and 
seemed to have shaken his ordinarily stolid brain. He 
could only rock himself back and forth and mutter, in a 
hoarse whisper, 'A snake bit me! a snake bit me! a 
snake bit me !' 

"It was a fearful sight. I looked around me for its 
author, and in my then excited state of mind quailed 



AN UGLY CUSTOMER. 101 

before the angry flash of its leaden eyes. The snake 
was coiled around the half-stripped twig from which I 
had requested the man to pull a leaf, and, as the branch 
sprung back and forth after the violent jerking away of 
the hand, he moved his flattened head and outstretched 
neck in keeping with the motion : his whole appearance 
was indicative of anger and readiness for further combat. 
I looked upon its flat head, its leaden body, its hostile 
eye, and its projecting fangs, and then turned to the 
bleeding hand. I felt that it was one of the deadly sort, 
and that a few hours more would probably add another 
to the missing men. 

" By this time I had recovered my presence of mind, 
and knew that the best thing I could do would be to 
restore his courage a little, and try to get him to suck 
the wound. This I proceeded to accomplish by the use 
of sundry abusive epithets, sprinkled here and there by a 
sneer at his cowardice, which soon gave him something 
to think about. I then made him drink a pint of raw 
gin, and ended by forcing his hand to his mouth and 
telling him to suck it. He shrank from it at first, but 
finally commenced, after which he sucked so hard as to 
bring half the blood of his body into his face. 

" I then strove to make light of the whole afiair, tell- 
ing him that people were bitten by snakes every day, 
and that they never made children of themselves; at 
which he got quite angry, though the force of habit kept 
him from replying as warmly as he would have been 
justified in doing. 

"'Just see, now, how I will shoot that fellow's head 
off!' I suddenly exclaimed; and, to give his mind occu- 



102 I STAND VERY STILL. 

patiou, I commenced blazing away with my revolver, 
wliile the snake swung back and forth and watched me 
with a constant glare. My nerves had been so unstrung 
that I missed him every time. 

" While I was still firing, the captain and the rest of 
the party came tearing through the jungle, some without 
their hats and covered with spider-webs, some with rent 
clothes and cocked guns. 

" ' Look out !' I cried ; ' mind that snake ; he's bit "Wil- 
liams, and looks ready for any one else.' 

"'Blow him away with your rifle,' said Baber; 'he's 
swinging about too much for the pistol.* The rest of 
the party gathered around the wounded man. 

" I advanced, and, putting the muzzle within a foot of 
his head, pulled the trigger. The smoke hung about the 
thick brushwood for a while and finally passed ofi*. There 
was no snake to be seen. 

'"Hunt for him, boys,' said the captain; 'I want a 
piece of him to put on Williams's hand.' 

"We began peering cautiously into the bushes, moving 
them asider with our guns and gradually passing in 
among them. We no longer feared an enemy whom 
we believed blown in half at least, but thought his mate 
might be on some other bush. Suddenly one of the men 
discovered him. ' Stand still, Mr. Habersham !' he ex- 
claimed ; 'he's got his eyes on you.' 

" I immediately acted upon the caution ; I don't 
think I ever stood so still before. The speaker lifted his 
■ cutlass and brought him to the ground with a broken 
back. I had simply jarred him to another branch with 
my rifle, and the cutlass that had at last brought .him 



GLOOMY FACES. 103 

down had passed within two feet of my head. He now 
bit furiously right and left, tried the cutlass, which proved 
rather hard, and finally sank his fangs into his own 
broken back ; and all the while it seemed that his angry, 
glittering gaze was fastened on me. I could not but 
wonder if he recognised in me the enemy who had blown 
him from his first position. 

" The captain took a piece of his flesh, bruised it between 
two knives, and bound it and a piece of tobacco over the 
wound. Then he told the man, 'There ! it's all right now. 
That'll draw the poison out, I know ;' and this gravely- 
asserted result, combined with the pint of gin, so restored 
the poor fellow's nerves that he took np his carbine and 
expressed himself ready to continue the march. 

" I never saw a more gloomily-desponding set of faces 
than those which now looked toward the captain. "We 
were almost certain that our two men had been devoured 
by wild beasts, and now here was a third bitten by a 
snake which every one inwardly acknowledged to be 
poisonous : who could tell when this man would drop 
in convulsions, or who was to be the next victim ? 
Death seemed to lurk on every hand, — in the lair-like 
caves of the hill-side, in the water we stooped to drink, 
in the rotten logs under our feet, even in the foliage that 
constantly brushed our faces : it was horrible. 

" ' Come ! come 1' said Stevens ; ' we must be getting 
along ; this is our last chance : we shall be broken down 
to-morrow.' So we passed on around the right of this 
massive wall, crossed a small ridge, and commenced the 
passage of an extensive swamp. 

" Hours more passed, and we came out suddenly upon 



104 MEETING WITH NATIVES. 

the beach. "We threw down our guns under a large oak- 
tree and stretched ourselves upon the yielding, moss-like 
grass. "We were pretty well used up, some of the party 
entirely so : "Williams, too, complained more and more of 
his hand, which was now quite swollen. "We ate our cold 
dinner, laid back drowsily for a half-hour, and then pre- 
pared to cross the jungle to the opposite beach, where 
we hoped to find the boat in sight. One of the men, who 
had taken ofi' his boots when we first stopped, now went 
to the beach to wash his bleeding feet before putting 
them on again. Suddenly we heard his voice : — 

" ' Here's some Malay boats down the beach, sir !' 

" This was a very acceptable piece of information. We 
had been longing to fall in with some of the natives to 
offer them a heavy reward for the discovery of the men, 
if alive, and a moderate one for their bones if dead : we 
thought they would be more likely to succeed in their 
native wilds than we. 

" Every man sprang to his feet with renewed strength 
and started up the beach, — some, however, very slowly. 
Among these latter were poor Baber and our interpreter, 
the former of whom had been suffering from the jungle- 
fever for the last month, and the latter of whom, having 
just left a counting-room, was poorly prepared to stand 
fatigue. In my anxiety to inquire about the men, I walked 
rapidly ahead, while the captain brought up the others at 
a more moderate gait. 

"A half-hour's walk under the broiling sun (thermo- 
meter at 101° on board the schooner) brought me to the 
nearest phrau, when, as I could not speak the language, I 
commenced making friendly gestures. The men who 



ARRIVAL OF THE "HEADMAN." 105 

were poling her along then shoved in to the beach, when 
one of them strapped on his parang and came forward 
to meet me. He approached without distrust, evidently 
regarding his parang as equal to my Sharpe's rifle, and, 
after making their usual salam, put his hand on his pa- 
rang -and gazed inquiringly at me. 

" I replied to his look by holding up two fingers, then 
pointing to myself, and finally to the jungle. I wanted 
him to infer that two of my countrymen were lost in the 
latter, and he seemed to comprehend at once. He held 
up one finger, touched his face, and then the brown 
stock of the rifle ; after which he held up a second finger, 
touched my shirt-wristband, and pointed up the beach. 
From this I understood that he had seen two men, one 
white and the other brown, and that they were farther up 
the beach. Kow, as one of the missing men was white, 
and the other a mulatto, the men he had seen must be 
those we were in search of; I threw up my cap and gave 
a whoop that reached the stragglers along the beach and 
was echoed back by their joyful reply. 

" "When they came up, Stevens took his seat under a 
large tree near the jungle, and awaited the approach of 
' the headman' of the party, who had for some time been 
running toward us from the more distant phrau. The 
interpreter stationed himself at his side, and our party 
in general cast themselves upon the grass for another 
rest. 

"When the headman arrived, he bent on one knee 
before the captain, made the same salam, and shook his 
outstretched hand with marked respect. Then he turned 
to the interpreter and spoke with great volubility for as 



106 NEWS OF THE LOST ONES. 

much as a minute. This latter soon filled himself with 
the news, and then commenced the process of disgorging. 

"Two of the headman's people, he said, had met the 
men some miles farther up the beach: they were lost, 
and knew not which way to turn. Their feet were much 
swollen and bleeding, their clothes in tatters, and they 
themselves much exhausted for want of food. They had 
taken them to their village, given them food, washed 
their feet, given them a house to live in, and were now 
on their way to find the vessel to which they belonged. 
All that they had been able to understand from them 
were the words 'American phrau' and 'Brikat;' and 
from those they had concluded that an American vessel 
was somewhere near Tanjong Brikat. They did not 
know but that she might be wrecked and in want of 
assistance : they had come to see. 

" Stevens now inquired if there was water off their vil- 
lage deep enough to admit of the schooner visiting it, and, 
upon being answered in the affirmative, made the head- 
man an offer if he would pilot us around. This was 
accepted, with the proviso that two of his relatives should 
be allowed to accompany him, when we at once set out 
upon our return. One of the natives being sent through 
the jungle to order the boat to return to the point, the rest 
of us continued on down the beach, preferring its regu- 
lar though heavy walking, and the hot sun, to the boggy 
swamps and confined heat of the jungle. There was a 
fine breeze blowing outside, but none of it could enter 
those solid masses of interwoven brushwood. 

" On this return-walk we suffered greatly from heat and 
thirst ; so much so, in fact, that Baber and several of the 



BLAST THEIR EYES ! 107 

men gave out, and, throwing themselves down on a shady 
spot, declared that they could go no farther. Several of 
us therefore pushed on to the nearest water ; and, after 
satisfying our own thirst, returned with two bottles of it 
to their relief, after which they exerted themselves, and 
with occasional assistance reached the boat. 

" The total revulsion of feeling which had followed the 
announcement of the two men's safety was amusing in 
the extreme. 

"'Blast their eyes!' said the man who had torn his 
clothes in rushing to the snake-scene, (all along it had 
been nothing but 'poor fellows!' 'poor fellows!') 'I wish 
I had the nigger by the throat; I'd show him what it is to 
make white people hunt him through the woods for three 
days.' 

" ' I wish he had the rest of that snake shoved down his 
throat!' continued he who had been bitten, and whose 
wound had been pronounced poisonous, but not fatal, by 
the natives. 

" ' I hope the captain pays fifty dollars each for the kind 
treatment they've had from the natives, and charges it to 
their accounts,' put in the man who had started back so 
violently from the edge of the jungle on the first night of 
our hunt. 

"'Silence!' exclaimed the captain; 'you ought to be 
thankful that half of us a'n't dead.' " 

I will now pass over several pages of my journal until 
I come to our arrival on board with the headman and 
his two relatives : — 

" It was quite late when we reached the schooner, and 
we experienced considerable difiiculty in persuading the 



108 FEAR AND ADMIRATION. 

headman to descend into the cabin. After much press- 
ing, however, he commenced by bearing his weight 
warily upon the first round of the ladder, then stooping 
down to get a good look at the place he was descending 
to, and finally reaching the bottom; for five minutes 
after which he trod as if he were walking on eggs, 
trembling violently and glancing around in evident 
alarm. Presently his alarm subsided into admiration, and 
he began to examine the satinwood bulkheads, the book- 
cases, the bunks, &c.; and finally, when the interpreter and 
his two relations were brought down, he became quite 
self-possessed and talkative. He could not tire of exa- 
mining every thing. The most ordinary article seemed to 
excite his curiosity; but that which carried his delight 
beyond all bounds was the action of a revolver which 
Baber fired six times in as many seconds and then 
handed him to examine. 

" 'Ask him how he likes the cabin,' said Stevens. 

"He replied that it was grander than any thing he had 
ever yet seen. He did not know if he was in a house or 
on board of a phrau : he should like to bring his father 
on board very much." 

I pass over other pages, and my next extract relates to 
our visit to their village, ofl^" which we anchored that 
night : — 

"It struck 8 P.M. as we left the schooner, — ^the captain, 
the interpreter, four men, the natives, and myself. Upon 
arriving at the beach we found the mouth of an extensive 
lagoon instead of the bamboo houses which we had been 
led to expect, and, passing through this and crossing the 
lagoon itself, we came to the mouth of a narrow and 



EXCITEMENT BY MOONLIGHT. 109 

gloomy-looking creek. Here again we were disappointed : 
there were still no houses ; and, as the boat shot into the 
dark and gloomy opening, the captain whispered me 
to shoot the native nearest me upon the first sign of 
treachery. We began to think that we might be paying 
a moonlight visit to a nest of Malay pirates. 

"We found the creek so full of logs and banks, so 
dark and so narrow, that we could no longer use our 
oars : we therefore had to ' point' them and pole the boat 
against the current. I have remarked that it was moon- 
light ; but then the bushes were so thick, both over and 
around us, that this luminary might as well have been 
behind a constant cloud: we could scarcely see the oars 
with which we were poling. Sometimes the hanging 
bushes would brush us in the face, or catch the upper 
ends of the oars as they were lifted up ; and upon these 
occasions I could not but wonder if more than one snake 
might not coil himself around hanging bushes, and if 
they might not snap at us as we brushed by, or drop 
down upon us as the oars struck the branches overhead. 
It was a most exciting moonlight visit. 

"After poling a mile or more through this darkness, we 
came out upon a little basin, on the right side of which 
was a bamboo wha^'f. We landed at this wharf, and, leav- 
ing two men by the boat with orders to warn ofi" every one 
unless they heard English spoken, took the other two and 
the interpreter, and followed the headman up a broad and 
vrinding road, which he said led to the long-looked-for 
village. We were now well in for it : if there v/as a trap 
we had only to make a running fight. This was what we 
thought as we got farther and farther from the boat; but 



110 A FORMIDABLE WALKING-CANE. 

we soon found that our suspicions were totally unfounded : 
they were a village of the most harmless and friendly 
people that I ever saw, in spite of their being Malays. 

"After five minutes' walk we sighted the first house a 
few yards on our left, and just as this occurred a large 
dog made a rush at the interpreter and was driven off 
by our guides. 

" ' Take care, captain !" exclaimed the alarmed linguist. 
' You'd better get sticks, gentlemen : these Chinamen's 
dogs are very fierce.' And, suiting the action to the 
word, he provided himself with a small log — a half- 
grown tree — and closed up to us, probably to afford us 
protection. (?) 

" We found the village to contain a population of some 
eighty or a hundred souls, half of whom were Malays 
and the other half Chinese. They came out in crowds 
to meet us, — men, women, (very pretty women, some of 
them,) and children. "We shook hands with spasmodic 
friendship, without regard to age or sex: — we were 
still in an unpleasant state of doubt as to their true 
character. We found two styles of houses looming up 
through the moonlight, one being built on the ground, 
as is ordinarily the case, and the other elevated on 
posts to the height of several feet. It was into one of 
the former of these that we were now ushered with re- 
spectful eagerness, and we soon forgot every feeling of 
distrust. 

" Our headman now left us in charge of his Chinese 
friend and went out in search of his father, with whom 
he shortly returned and informed us that the wanderers 
would soon make their appearance. The old Malay 



CHINAMEN AMONG THE MALAYS. Ill 

saluted us reverently, and tlien retreated to the side of 
his son, of whom he seemed very proud. 

"And now, while some bad tea is being drunk without 
either sugar or cream, as we await the men's appearance, 
let me condense some of the interpreter's remarks in 
regard to the mixed people among whom we found 
ourselves so suddenly thrown." 

I will preface this condensed matter by a single 
observation : — As the Irish and German emigrants turn 
to this land of America by hundreds and thousands, so 
turn the Chinese to the fertile shores of the Malay 
Islands. There is one difference, however: they leave 
their wives behind them and carry their customs with 
them. The Malays provide them the former, but retain 
their own prejudices. The two are often, as in the 
present case, found living together, sometimes for pro- 
tection, sometimes for trade : the latter was the case in 
this their town of Rangou. 

The headman of these Chinese spoke as follows, 
through the interpreter: — "Our village is small. It 
has only about one hundred and thirty souls. We are 
equally divided, and each people has its own leader. I 
am the chief among the Chinese: the headman is the 
chief among the Malays. We are equal, and are elected 
every year by the people. The old men give us advice 
when necessary. Your men were brought here in great 
distress, and we treated them like brothers until they 
troubled our women, when we told them they should 
remain in their house or we would tie them. "We tried 
to do our best. Have we done right?" 

The captain replied warmly in the affirmative, adding 



112 HOW THEY GOT LOST. 

he was only sorry they had not fulfilled their threat of 
tying them when they behaved badly; and, as the men 
entered at the moment and heard themselves thus con- 
demned, they advanced with a most sheepish expression 
of countenance and waited to be questioned. 

"Well, what have you got to say for yourselves?" 
asked Stevens, severely. 

" Got lost, sir. We tried to cross through the woods 
to t'other beach, and was in them all night," &c. &c. &c. 
The reader must imagine the rest. 

!N^ow came some more hot and tasteless tea; then a 
general shaking of hands ; then the furious barking of 
dogs; then a dark and dismal poling-match down the 
winding creek; and finally — the schooner. The next 
day we were again under way, heading for Gaspar 
Island, where we filled our water-tanks with rain-water 
from the cavities of rocks, and finally crowded sail 
for our port of rendezvous, — Hong-Kong, China, — dis- 
tant some eighteen hundred miles. 

The time passed heavily enough now that we had 
nothing to do ; but two weeks cannot last forever, and 
we finally found ourselves in smooth water. We en- 
tered at night, and our pilot, being a great jackass, 
allowed us to drift afoul of an English vessel's hawse, 
which gave us work until the change of tide : then we 
got clear of her and anchored, kicked the ofiending 
Celestial into his boat, and turned in for the night. 



CHAPTER Vn. 

WE ARRIVE AT HONG-KONG, AND FIND MORE REPAIRS WANTED — COMMANDER 
RINGGOID RETURNS TO THE UNITED STATES IN BAD HEALTH, AND LIEUTE- 
NANT-COMMANDING JOHN RODGERS TAKES THE COMMAND OF THE EXPEDITION 

SOMETHING ABOUT HUMAN LIFE AND DUCKS IN CHINA, AND HOW WE WERE 

LIBERALLY ENTERTAINED BY THE FOREIGN MERCHANTS OF CANTON. 

Our nocturnal arrival once more effected a reunion of 
tlie squadron. "We found familiar hulls all around us 
when we went on deck the next morning, and that " first 
day in port" was devoted to climbing their sea-rusted 
sides and talking over the events of the last few months. 
On board of the Yincennes we were shown a huge snake, 
a boa-constrictor, that had been brought from Batavia by 
the Kennedy, and which was now confined in a strong 
bamboo cage on the quarter-deck. As we advanced 
toward him they were about giving him his breakfast, 
which consisted of quite a tough-looking old rooster, who 
struggled violently as they forced him in between two of 
the slats. Upon being let go he immediately occupied 
the opposite corner of the cage, and lifted his neck- 
feathers as roosters do when acknowledging their defeat. 
There he stood, — feathers, spurs, and all ; and I watched 
curiously for the result. The snake began by fixing a set- 
tled glare upon his victim, working his coiled length slowly 
back and forth, and apparently preparing for a spring. 

Suddenly, in the twinkling of an eye, he threw two of 

those working folds over the frightened bird and drew 

8 113 



114 GREEK MEETS GREEK. 

him into Ms coil ; as near as I could see he had sprang 
from his head and tail. The rooster gave one frightened 
cry, and then the folds hegan to close aronnd him, — closer, 
— closer. Finally he was mashed into an ohlong mass, 
covered with a glutinous saliva, and swallowed, " tail and 
all." I wondered if they ever grew large enough to pre- 
pare men in that way, and if there was any prospect of 
our visiting the jungles which they inhabited. 

This was all very fine for the snake as long as he had a 
trembling chicken to deal with ; but upon a subsequent 
occasion, when a fine young roasting-pig was introduced 
to him, the tables seemed turned. I did not see the latter 
myself, but was told that the pig ensconced himself in 
the chicken's corner, and exhibited such a warlike front 
that the boa was completely nonplussed. They seemed 
mutually afraid of each other, and remained upon a 
watchful guard until the former was released from his 
uncomfortable quarters : a whole night, I think, they were 
together. 

Finding it inconvenient, as well as expensive, to retain 
the snake alive, he was finally taken on shore to the gar- 
dens of the naval-storekeeper, where a noose was passed 
over his head, then over the limb of a tree, and finally 
"hauled taut" by Stimpson, the energetic naturalist of the 
Expedition. In this way he was soon put an end to, after 
which he was deprived of his skin for future stufiSng. 

My service in the schooner had now expired, and, when 
I returned to my long-closed room on board of the Ken- 
nedy, every thing looked strange and unnatural : I had 
been away nearly five months, and bilge-water and the 
moth had not been idle. The former of these had at 



ANOTHER BREAKDOWN. 115 

lengtli become so unbearable that permission had been 
asked and received to break out the cargo of stores and 
try to remedy the evil. The attempt was made, and 
resulted in the discovery that the ship was rotten, — 
totally unseaworthy. She was subsequently condemned 
and turned over to the East India squadron as an armed 
vessel, to be moored off the city of Canton for the pro- 
tection of American citizens during the frequent out- 
breaks of rebel violence. 

The Porpoise also had been discovered to be in a very 
rotten condition, and was undergoing extensive repairs 
when we arrived. Her captain had been deprived of his 
command, — very unjustly, it was thought, — and had left 
for the United States; Lieutenant Henry Rolando, of the 
Vincennes, succeeded him. 

In the mean time Commodore Perry arrived from his 
famous voyage to Japan, and felt himself called upon to 
take some action in the affairs of the "North Pacific 
Expedition." Our squadron was totally separate and 
distinct from his ; but then he was the senior officer pre- 
sent, and, from all that he heard in regard to the health 
of Commander Ringgold, he felt himself called upon to 
interfere. A board of surgeons having reported it as 
"very delicate and in need of quiet and retirement," — or 
words to that effect, — he ordered him home, and the com- 
mand naturally devolved upon Commander John Podgers, 
the officer next in rank. And now commenced a total 
reorganization of our expedition. Captain Collins, Lieu- 
tenant Carter, and Dr. Hamilton, of the Kennedy, Cap- 
tain Rolando, of the Porpoise, and several officers from 
the other vessels, left us and joined one or more of the 



116 REORGANIZATION OF THE SQUADRON. 

vessels of Perry's squadron. The Kennedy was sent up 
to Canton, and her officers divided among the other 
vessels to fill vacancies. An indescribable state of un- 
certainty and confusion existed for weeks : no one knew 
which vessel to prefer, or where to stop when he had his 
orders. Every day some officer was getting tired of his 
ship and applying to be ordered to another; or sickness 
or a detachment from the squadron would force Com- 
mander Rodgers to order some one temporarily to fill the 
vacancy. We knew not where to keep our clothes, where 
to pay our mess-bill, hardly where to eat: it was nothing 
but change — change — change ; and, what made it worse, 
it was nearly all necessary change. Finally, things seemed 
to be settled, and I awoke one morning to find Stevens 
in command of the Hancock, and myself as her first 
lieutenant. And now, as the remainder of this book 
will be chiefly made up from what I saw and did while 
attached to that vessel, I will give a list of her officers, 
&c., and then a brief idea of the old tub herself: — 

Lieutenant Commanding, H. K. Stevens, Captain. 

Acting Master, A. W. Habersham, Lieutenant. 

" W. Van Wyck, " 

" H. St. Geo. Hunter, " 

« E. 0. Cares, Sailing-Master. 

Purser, GtEO. H. Ritchie. 

Assistant Surgeon, Gerard Alexander. 

Draughtsman, A. E. Hartman. 

First Assistant Engineer, E. Lawton. 

Second " " D. B. McComb. 

Third " " L. Williams. 

Assistant Naturalist, L. M. Squires. 



THE OLD JOHN. 117 

The above were tlie officers of the ship, and, in addi- 
tion, she had some sixty souls, — ^petty officers, firemen, 
seamen, ordinary seamen, landsmen, and boys. And now 
for the vessel herself. Her description should go on 
paper ; her dimensions should never be lost. 

"The Old John," as we soon came to call her, was once 
an honest old water-tank and anchor-hoy, and for years 
acquitted herself with deserved eclat in that humble voca- 
tion. She belonged to the Boston ITavy-yard, and was 
really a very useful vessel. She had a steam-engine in 
her and a propeller under her stern, and used to scull 
about the harbour of Boston, to the infinite terror of all 
catfish. In short, like many other things in their proper 
sphere, she was a marvel of good behaviour and success. 
After a while, people began to talk of sending her to 
sea, and she did actually get as far as the West Indies, 
when her officers, like sensible men, turned around and 
came back. They had had enough of her. 

Then it was said that she wanted length, more sail, 
&c. &c. ; and, while she was thus the subject of doubt 
and uncertainty, she was selected as one of the contem- 
plated expedition. This was no sooner determined upon 
than she was subjected to what the Government called 
"great improvements," after which she was rated as a 
" screw-steamer of the third class," and proclaimed a sea- 
worthy vessel. These great improvements consisted in 
her having been lengthened to a fearful extent, while 
her breadth of beam and power of engine remained the 
same, and of her having a third mast put in where no 
mast was wanted. Those were all, and she was then 



118 PLAYFULNESS OF THE OLD JOHN. 

ordered to join the hazardous undertaking of a surveying 
and exploring voyage around the world. 

Even now, as the mind runs hack to scenes which 
were then in the future, seated as I am behind my pen in 
a strong brick house, and with miles of dry land between 
me and the waste of waters, I tremble at the dangers 
which seemed to seek us from every quarter, but which 
in reality were mostly called into existence by her own 
want of the usual qualities which constitute a seaworthy 
vessel. 

She was one hundred and seventy feet long, some- 
thing less than twenty-two feet beam, and drew thirteen 
feet when full of coal. Heard ever any one of such out- 
landish proportions ? She was bark-rigged, and so crank 
that forty-five tons of pig-ballast had to be stowed in her 
to keep her from "turning turtle;" and, even with that 
great weight to steady her, she would list a half streak 
either way when a boat was hoisted, and careen as if 
under a heavy press of sail when lying at anchor across 
the wind and tide. She would dive into seas when in a 
gale as if without the most remote idea of ever coming 
up again, walloT\dng in the trough, and dipping in whole 
cataracts at every roll. She had an unpleasant way of 
carrying her helm hard up when lying to in a gale, and 
in light weather she often amused herself by luffing into 
the wind with the helm hard up, every thing aft shaking 
and every thing forward full. In short, she was a dis- 
grace to the country, the laughing-stock of foreign offi- 
cers, and a constant source of anxiety to those who sailed 
her. As long as our coal lasted we could manage her 
very well ; but as soon as that gave out we could only 



WHEN SHALL WE THKEE MEET AGAIN? 119 

wait for a fair wind. More tlian once she put me in miud 
of one of those Chinese junks which make but two trips 
the year, saiUng before the monsoon to their port, and 
then waiting for the opposite monsoon to bring them 
back. Without steam she was like a log;. 

Here I am, then, on board of the " Old John" at last; 
and, by turning back to the "list of officers," the reader 
will see that old "bust-proof" and his master are keep- 
ing me company. "We three kept together during the 
whole of that eventful cruise, although the former did 
attempt my life on more than one occasion, and the 
latter never could be persuaded that the fault was any- 
where but in my own carelessness. And now, while we 
are "preparing for sea," let me touch lightly upon the 
four Eastern ports of Victoria, Macao, Whampoa, and 
Canton. 

These places all lie within a circle of one hundred 
miles, Macao, the most central, being in lat. 22° 14' IS". 
and long. 113° 32' E., according to Raper. The first is a 
colony of the English, more generally known under the 
name of Hong-Kong, and situated on an island of that 
name; the second, an old colony of the Dutch, and 
situated on a promontory about half-way between Vic- 
toria and Canton; and the fourth, a large city which 
every one knows to be on the Canton River. Add to 
this the fact of its having an execution-yard, a small 
hotel, and a few foreign merchants with their club-room, 
and the reader knows nearly as much about it as I do : 
the rest he will see shortly. The third, Whampoa, I 
mention last because least, and will here make an end of 
it by simply remarking that it is a Chinese bamboo 



120 THE GREAT SLAUGHTER-HOUSE. 

town, situated a few miles nearer the sea than Canton, 
and possessing the only dry-dock in that part of China. 
Heavy ships cannot go above Whampoa on account of a 
barrier across the river : hence its importance. 

The view about Whampoa is beautiful from an upper 
point of the river. The opposite sketch, from the pencil 
of Mr. Edward Kern, gives a most truthful idea of it. 

Hong-Kong is more of a European settlement* than 
any thing else, and the same is pretty much the case 
with Macao. The former of these is remarkable as the 
residence of money-makers of all nations, and a few 
ramrod-like English soldiers, who — to use the words of 
an old messmate — walk up and down the Queen's Road, 
encased — dingy-boy like — in dangerously-tight trousers, 
and amuse themselves by switching the dust from them 
with very delicate canes. Macao is remarkable for its 
pure air, cool temperature, fine summer retreats, and as 
the residence of Portugal's great epic poet, — the second 
Milton, — Camoens the beautiful. We visited his cave, 
the birthplace of his most glorious lines, and went away 
with sad thoughts of his brief though brilliant advent. 

So much for the first three. And now for Canton, the 
city of a million or more, and the grand centre of 
butchery, the great slaughter-house through which passes 
much of the surplus population of China, entering as 
men and cast out as headless trunks, — the victims of 
civil war. I again turn to my journal, the Hancock 
having been ordered up the river for a few days : — 

"We left our ship, which was anchored above the 
'Factories,' and pulled toward the 'gardens' through 
such numbers of boats that it was almost impossible to 




CAMOENS'S CAVE-(MACAOJ 



THE VALUE OF LIFE IN CHINA. 121 

make any headway. We were half an hour in accom- 
plishing a distance which, had it not been for those 
closely-packed sampans, could have been passed over in 
five minutes. While thus elbowing our way through 
them we passed a junk, upon the bow of which several 
Chinamen were standing with long bamboo poles in their 
hands: they seemed to be bearing something clear of 
their cables, — something which the tide had swept afoul 
of them. This something proved to be the dead bodies 
of three Chinamen, bodies without heads, — ^bodies of 
men who had been decapitated by either the mandarins 
or rebels, tied together by the feet, and then cast into 
the river to save the trouble of burial. They were shoved 
clear of the cable, and then went drifting on, borne upon 
the changing flow of the muddy stream, to be returned 
again by the rising flood, like any useless barrel or water- 
logged piece of driftwood. Such is life in China. I once 
heard from good authority that it was no uncommon thing 
for a person to take the place of the condemned unfortu- 
nate, provided said condemned would pay a stipulated 
amount to the friends of the self-offered victim. 

"Leaving this revolting scene behind us, we |)ulled 
into a basin on the river's bank, the mouth of which was 
guarded by a floating log, and the quiet bosom of -vs^hich 
was covered by scores of the light egg-like boats known 
as sampans or Tanka-boats. These admirable little pas- 
sage-boats are sculled by a single girl generally, though 
they are often the homes of a whole family. One would 
be surprised to see the great number of Chinese who live 
in boats. This basin was probably a hundred feet in dia- 
meter, and after crossing it we reached a flight of heavy 



122 HOW WE WERE ENTERTAINED. 

stone steps whicli led up into the 'gardens.' These pro- 
bably covered as mnch as two acres of ground, consisted 
of a single enclosure, in spite of the plurality of the name, 
and were quite refreshingly sprinkled by shade-trees and 
patches of grass. The walks were wide and shady, and 
paved with large squares of granite, and it was backed 
by a row of massive buildings after the ordinary ware- 
house style. These were the 'Factories,' or ' Hongs,' — the 
great doorways of the world's trade with China, and the 
'business-places' of the foreign merchants. We never 
entered them. 

" There was also a fine club-house in the left corner of 
the gardens, but we were equally unfortunate in entering 
that. It did not pay to be polite to ofiicers unless the city 
was about to be sacked, in which case fighting-men were 
in great demand for the protection of the property of 
' citizens of the United States,' and consequently entitled 
to proportionate consideration. In spite of all this, the 
'Canton merchants' have a great reputation for their 
'princely hospitality.' Let us turn to more worthy sub- 
jects. 

" The most attractive (?) object in Canton is the exe- 
cution-ground or slaughter-yard. There you may go 
weekly, almost daily, and see heads fall by the score, 
sometimes by the hundred. You come to a rude enclo- 
sure at the gate of which a crowd of Imperial lancers 
stand in knots, inside of which kneel the miserable vic- 
tims, and in the corners of which are piled the heads 
of former sufferers in various stages of decomposition. 
Shreds of tangled hair, too, — human hair, — is kicked 
about under foot, and the snarling dogs linger around 




TANKA BOAT AND GIRL. 



THE SWORD OF CIVIL WAR. 123 

and tear tlie flesh from pallid faces or lap their meals from 
the crimson streams of human blood. The sanguinary and 
callous executioner strides over and among the bleeding 
trunks, kicks a head out of his way here, steps into a 
pool of blood there, and sweeps his dripping sword over 
the head of the next in turn. Men and women, — some- 
times children, — age and ugliness, youth and beauty, suf- 
fer without distinction. A head is a head, and so many 
heads have been ordered to fall. The manner in which 
they obtain the requisite number is hardly to be credited ; 
and yet it is true ; — so true that I tell it without fear of 
contradiction. 

" These executions are generally the result of a desire 
to retaliate upon the rebels for some similar act. "When, 
therefore, it becomes known to the mandarins that the 
rebels have cut off so many Imperial heads, they at once 
march out an equal number of prisoners and restore the 
equilibrium. If they have not enough prisoners, they 
send a company of troops and seize and bind the first 
poor dozen or twenty countrymen whom fate throws in 
their way, bring them into the city, and the next day they 
are kneeling in the slaughter-yard with bowed heads and 
fettered limbs. It makes little difference which side they 
are on : they may protest themselves to be the best ser- 
vants of the emperor, and the only answer is, — 

"'"Why were you outside of the wall while the rebels 
have possession of the surrounding country V 

"The stained sword drips again, and a Government no- 
tice is pasted up to the effect that ' such and such a great 
victory has been obtained over the rebels, and that so 
many prisoners have had their heads cut off.' This 



124 THA-PING- WANG'S RELIGION. 

notice soon readies the rebels, and results in similar 
scenes at tlieir hands. It is hard to say which is the 
worst, the mandarin or rebel party." 

Much sympathy was excited in Europe and America 
some three years since (in 1853, I think) in favour of 
these rebels of whom I have been writing. It was as- 
serted that Tha-ping-wang, their leader, was a Christian, 
a convert of the missionaries, and that his followers were 
all converted Chinamen, and that their object was to 
spread the light of the gospel over that heathen land. 
Now see the true state of the case. 

Tha-ping-wang, when a boy, attended the schools of the 
mission at Shanghae, learned to speak, read, and write 
English tolerably well, and got a very fair idea of the life 
and religion of our Saviour. As is often the case, this 
knowledge did him more harm than good : he cursed and 
swore, felt himself above other Chinamen of his class, 
and finally left the school-room for a life of starvation, 
work, or rascality. The first of these not agreeing with 
him, he was forced to the second. He engaged as a 
horse-boy in the employ of some European at Shanghae, 
but, finding work too troublesome, set his brains to work 
in the line of rascality. The next thing that we hear of 
him he is the commander-in-chief of the rebels, calling 
himself the elder brother of our Saviour, and, as such, 
claiming the respect and veneration due to a God. He 
says that Christ and Mahomet were both divine spirits, 
and that their religions did well enough until he came : 
now, however, he is commissioned to modify their teach- 
ings, and none but his is the true doctrine. What his 
modifications consist of I do not know; I only know the 



i'.||lll||Bl'Hj|[ Hj^Jit_^ '^'«^'$, 




GIVING DUCKS THEIR EDUCATION. 125 

above, which I learned from Bishop Boone, the head of 
the Episcopal mission in China. But to return to 
Canton. 

"We are on our return-trip to Hong-Kong, and I make 
another extract of something I saw while passing down 
the river : — 

" We were now running along the edge of an exten- 
sive rice-field, and the pilot called my attention to a 
queer-looking boat that was fastened to the bank. ' That 
is a duck-boat,' he said : ' did you ever see one before V 

"I replied in the negative, and he then pointed out 
hundreds of ducks working their clumsy way through 
the half-grown rice. 

"'They live in that boat,' he continued, 'with the 
man and his family who own them, — the people in the 
middle and the ducks in those side-pens. They are let 
out to feed whenever the boat drifts by a good place, 
and when the man whistles they get back as fast as they 
can. The last one that gets back is whipped.' 

" '"Whipped V I exclaimed. 

" ' Yes ; he slaps him hard, and then the next time he 
doesn't come last.' " 

I give the above as it was given to me, and as it is 
given to almost every one visiting China, and must add, 
in confirmation of it, something of the kind which I 
witnessed myself. 

We had left this first duck-boat well astern and were 
approaching a second. The man of this second had 
apparently "whistled," for his ducks were returning 
in an awful hurry. 

"They were apparently making the most desperate 



126 HEELS OVER HEAD. 

efforts to regain tlie boat. Some of them were lialf 
flying, half swimming through the mud, weeds, and water 
of the field; others striking out like good fellows across 
a little creek that separated them from their home. All 
seemed anxious to arrive first ; and, as they gained the 
boat's side, they tumbled in, heels over head, without 
the least apparent regard to life or limb. I watched, 
with the pilot, to see one of them slapped; but, to his 
evident chagrin, there seemed to be no ' last duck' that 
time." 

So much for Southern China and ducks. That same 
night we anchored in Hong-Kong, and began to count 
the hours that were yet to pass before our departure for 
more northern latitudes. 



CHAPTER Vm. 

HOW WE TALKED OF "VISITING PEKIN BY WATEIl," AND HOW THE "OLD 

JOHN" AND COOPER WERE PRESSED INTO THE CORPS DIPLOMATIQUE 

HOW AN OLD TUB AMUSED HERSELF BY ROLLING HER MASTS OUT, 
AND HOW A NEW-YORK PILOT-BOAT WEATHERED A GALE — HOW WB 
VISITED THE GREAT CITY OF FOU-CHOW-FOO, AND HOW WE SAW 
CORMORANTS CATCHING FISH. 

There was a great talk in Hong-Kong about this time 
as to the possibility of a commissioner going to Pekin in 
person and obtaining an interview with the brother of 
the sun and moon, — the celestial Heinfung, — the Emperor 
of all the Chinas. The object of this desired interview 
was to put into the Imperial ear certain proposals, &c. 
which could never reach it in writing, or which, reaching, 
would never be acted upon, from the fact that the man- 
darins or rebels would stop the despatches, or that the 
former would influence the Celestial mind against the 
proposals of the encroaching "Fanqui," or barbarians, as 
all foreigners are contemptuously called in China. 

Many were the schemes projected and abandoned ta 
attain this important interview, until it was finally deter- 
mined ,to try and reach Pekin by water. Pekin was situated 
near the Pi-ho River, and the Pi-ho River emptied into 
the Gulf of Pichili, and the Gulf of Pichili in turn 
emptied into the Yellow Sea : w^hy might not vessels-of- 
war go to the mouth of the Pi-ho, and from there de- 
spatch boats, or even smaller vessels, upon a visit to the 

127 



128 A COMBINED EFFORT. 

great capital ? and wliy might not the commissioner go 
in those boats ? 

Ko one could object to this arrangement, because no 
one had ever been to the mouth of the Pi-ho; and so 
Mr. Robert McLean, of the United States, and Sir John 
Bowering, of England, gave it out as their intention to 
attempt to " reach Pekin by water." 

The next thing to be done now was to find the vessels; 
and Commodore Perry, Commander Rodgers, and Ad- 
miral Sterling were each called upon to assist the cause. 
The former placed the steam-frigate Powhatan at the 
disposal of Mr. McLean, the second gave the "old John" 
and the little Cooper, while the latter furnished Sir 
John Bowering with the screw-steamer Rattler and a 
hired lorcha, — a vessel about the size of the Cooper, but 
drawing much less water. It was hoped that the two 
latter might be able to ascend the river with boats in 
tow, and thus give an air of greater /orce than could have 
been attained with boats only. These arrangements 
having been made, we were ordered to prepare for 
sea with all despatch. We were to go to Shanghae, via 
the river Min, and await the arrival of Mr. McLean in 
the Powhatan, and to take advantage of all oppor- 
tunities for making surveys. We were detailed on 
"special service," but that did not prevent our going 
on with our regular work. The Yincennes herself 
and the Porpoise were to survey around the Bonin, 
Loo-Choo, and Japanese islands, and we were all to 
rendezvous at Hong-Kong in the spring. It was now 
September, 1854, and we were ready for sea, — the " old 
John" and the Cooper to sail first. Suddenly, Lieu- 



THE BLACK PAGE. 129 

tenants J. H. Russell, of the Porpoise, and William Van ' 
"Wyck, of the Hancock, imagined that their mutual 
interests would be consulted by changing ships, and 
accomplished their wish during the hurry of our de- 
parture; and this pregnant exchange was no sooner 
accomplished than we took the Cooper in tow, and stood / 
out to sea on our stormy road to Shanghae. — ^' 

We left the Vincennes and Porpoise at anchor. We 
have never seen the latter since; and, as her image floats 
by me, enveloped in the dismal and shadowy shroud of 
its unknown fate, it drags with it the names and features 
of lost friends and messmates, endeared to my heart by 
scenes of common peril and long years of brotherly 
association. I close my eyes, and recall those well- 
remembered features; and, as they crowd before me, they 
are changed : oh, how changed ! The startled imagination 
paints them paled and distorted by the hideous emotions 
of the last struggle, — a struggle in which man, having 
exhausted the vast resources of his godlike brain in vain 
efforts to surmount a danger which is literally insur- 
mountable, folds his arms of useless muscle upon his 
troubled heart and calmly bides his time to die. I close 
my eyes, and see those fearful shadows crowd around 
me, and the burning tear of powerless pity leaks through 
the unsteady lids and blots the swimming paper. It 
is a brotherly tear, shed over the unknown fate of 
generous hearts, who sank in the fathomless depths of 
the coral sea, or lingered upon the barren rocks of some 
desert island until life faded slowly from their weakened 
grasp. 

Our passage to Shanghae proved even more stormy 



130 TEN- MISERABLE DAYS. 

than we had expected : it was the equinox, and we had a 
right to look for heavy weather, but we never imagined 
that we should suffer as we did. We were soon forced 
to cast the Cooper adrift, and the second night out we 
ourselves dipped into a heavy sea and twisted off the 
head of the bowsprit, rolling out the topgallant-masts at 
the same time. "We had a head-gale to beat up against, 
and of course made little or no headway ; and, in addi- 
tion to this, Stevens would insist upon our dancing 
attendance upon the Cooper, lest something might befall 
her. This unnecessary guardianship I never could un- 
derstand, as the latter vessel was making a much better 
weather of it than we were, and a quick passage would 
have been consulted by letting each of us "make the 
best of our way." 

After losing our masts we rolled fearfully, and for ten 
days our rooms were afloat. We were shipping seas con- 
stantly, and having the most unpleasant time I ever expe- 
rienced; while the Cooper under her close-reefed foresail 
was riding upon the very crests of the towering seas, and 
keeping as dry as a bone. More than one eye glanced 
toward her as the safer as well as the dryer of the two. 

Finally, we arrived off the mouth of the river Min, 
upon the banks of which, and thirty-four miles above the 
sea, is situated the great and slightly-known city of Fou- 
chow-foo, or rather Fou-chow City, the word " foo" meaning 
city. The latitude of the mouth of this river is 26° 08' N., 
its longitude 149° 42' E., and it is situated about half- 
way between the port we had left and the one to which 
we were bound. Fou-chow is rapidly becoming the great 
door of export of the vast empire of which it is one of 



THE PAGODA OF LOAH-SING-TAH. 131 

the largest cities, and as sucli is entitled to unusual con- 
sideration : in addition, it has never before been written 
of, to my knowledge, hence another claim to being made 
the subject of the next few pages. I turn to my journal 
for extracts : — 

"It is fortunate that we touch at Fou-chow, for the 
equinoctial gales have bruised and battered us consider- 
ably ,* they still blow very heavy, and our coal is already 
running short, we having had to keep up constant steam 
or drift helplessly to leeward. "We will now be able to 
repair damages and fill our bunkers with wood, possibly 
with coal. 

"While standing in for the supposed mouth of the 
river with the Cooper in tow, we ran aground on a sand- 
bank, and while hauling off into deep water were boarded 
by a number of piratical fishermen, one of whom con- 
sented to pilot us in. He anchored us about a mile below 
the pagoda of Loah-sing-tah shortly after dark. 

" This pagoda, which is situated on a pleasantly-wooded 
elevation near a turn in the river, is twenty-five miles 
above the sea, and within nine of the city itself. It is 
one of the lingering monuments of unknown ages, and 
is at length beginning to crumble beneath the constant 
action of time and the elements. Here it is that mer- 
chant-vessels anchor, receiving their teas by huge cargo- 
boats which come to them on the ebb-tide and return 
with the flood. We found the American bark Hun- 
garian at anchor, the captain of which boarded us and 
hailed our arrival with great joy. "We also found a large, 
heavily-laden English ship, the captain of which offered us 
a thousand dollars if we would tow him around a certain 



132 OPIUM KECEIVING-SHIPS. 

point upon which he feared being cast by the current : we 
refused the offer with a show of unwilling dignity, but 
subsequently did him the service for nothing. He was 
loud in his thanks, and promised we should hear from his 
owners when he arrived at Liverpool ; but he must either 
have died on the passage or wilfully neglected us, for we 
are still waiting : the name of the ship was the ' Lord 
"Warrington.' " 

In consequence of advice received from the captain of 
the Hungarian in regard to the tides, we determined to 
visit Fou-chow with the next flood. This required us to 
get up before daylight, and I make a few extracts from 
the account of our trip : — 

""We found two of the light and buoyant sampans of 
a neighbouring village awaiting us at the gangway, in 
one of which rowed the pilot, who accompanied us as 
guide through the crooked streets to the American con- 
sulate. These two boats seemed to have been made 
expressly for our party of six, — who now buttoned out 
the cool morning air and got into them, — so closely did 
we fit together along the single thwart-ship seat. Three 
of us there were in each boat; and we had a bamboo 
frame overhead, upon which was spread a protecting 
mat, and two large men and four very small boys to 
urge us along, — one large man and two small boys in 
each boat. 

"It wanted yet an hour of daylight as the driving 
flood-tide swept us by the towering pagoda, and the next 
thing that attracted us was the reveille of an English 
opium-receiving ship, — one of the floating but perma- 
nently-anchored strongholds whose only duty it is to 



MAGNIFICENT SCENERY. 133 

shelter and dispose of tlie poison as it is delivered from 
the ' armed vessels of reckless men' previously spoken of. 

" At half-past five it was broad daylight, and we could 
look around us : the entire sky was of one uniform rosy 
tint. Even the zenith was of this colour, and the con- 
trast between the brilliant heavens and the deep blue of 
the distant mountains was magnificent: I never before 
saw the outlines of the mountains so clearly defined, — 
never their blue so deep, never the sky so brilliant. They 
lifted themselves in their stately grandeur far into the 
morning sky, towering over the hills at their base with 
protecting care, while these in turn hung over an undu- 
lating country that waved itself almost imperceptibly 
into the low rice-fields along the river-banks. 

"Nor was it in one direction alone that this view met 
the eye ; the panorama was perfect. We had ascended 
the windings of the river sufficiently high to place even 
high mountains between us and the sea, and now the 
smooth surface of the river, unbroken by either isle or 
rock, and slightly rippled by the morning air, presented 
the appearance of a small lake rather than of a running 
stream. "We had a jutting point below us, another 
about a mile ahead, and the river itself seemed to widen 
between them; hence its similarity to a lake. 

"As we passed over this quiet basin of water and 
turned the upper point into another lake, the bosom of 
the water was no longer unbroken. 

"Uncouth-looking boats, with noisy boatmen and 
flapping sails, were sprinkled plentifully over its safiron- 
coloured breast, while schools of fish leaped bodily into 
the air and made the water foam again in their descent. 



134 THE BRIDGE OF BRIDGES. 

" The sides of the mountains and Mils along this river 
were literally covered with the sweet-potato vine ; and, 
from their peculiar manner of cultivating it, there could 
be no loss of soil from the zigzag course of the impover- 
ishing gully. 

" Take a flight of steps six hundred feet high, each 
step being twenty yards broad and six feet higher than 
the lower one, and ranging from fifty to a hundred yards 
in length. 

"]!^ow, manure well the surfaces of these giant steps, 
and you get a series of fertile patches. Then, imagine 
the whole slope of a mountain dug into, smoothed off", 
' got up' in that style, and you have an idea of how so 
many people manage to live in China. Did they only 
cultivate what we call arable land, half of them would 
starve. It was a rare sight to turn in whatever direction 
and see thousands of hill-side acres thus converted into 
level tracts and rising and retreating before the eye like 
the successive seats of a vast amphitheatre." 

After skipping several pages of my journal, I find the 
following : — 

"Shortly after passing the ruined temple just de- 
scribed, we came to a turn in the river whence we first 
sighted the famous granite bridge of Fou-chow. And 
such a bridge as it was ! — one oblong mass of apparently- 
solid granite, with square holes cut at regular intervals 
to permit the flow of the four-knot tide, and with booths 
and shops of every description built upon it from one 
end to the other, — ^built upon the up-river half of the 
bridge's surface, while the lower half is given to the 
thousands who daily cross it. Such bridges are not built 



FISHING-CORMORANTS, 135 

in China now; they were built by the men who raised 
those strange columns known as 'pagodas.' The river 
at this bridge is two thousand feet wide, and there is an 
island near its south bank over which the bridge passes. 
It is only on this island, and within certain limits on the 
left bank, that the houses of the foreign merchants are 
allowed to be built." 

We were passing under this bridge, and saw a novel 
sight. 

" As we passed under the massive blocks of gray gra- 
nite upon the foaming breast of the rising tide and shot 
out into the expanding river beyond, we saw a long low 
raft of bamboo moored under the lee of the heavy pier 
to our right, on which were a Chinese fisherman, a 
basket, a paddle, and five duck-like birds, which we at 
once imagined to be some of the celebrated 'fishing- 
cormorants' of the East. We also imagined that this 
might be our only opportunity for witnessing their sin- 
gular mode of fishing, and consequently stopped in the 
hope that the Chinaman would gratify our curiosity. 
We were not disappointed. 

"Scarcely had we 'rounded to,' when he reached out 
his hand toward the birds, the nearest of whom at once 
waddled up to him and stepped into his open palm. He 
now smoothed his feathers with the right hand, bent his 
mouth to his arched neck for a moment, and then put 
him upon the edge of the raft. There the bird dipped 
his bill in the water once or twice, snapped his head from 
side to side, shook his tail several flirts, and ended by 
diving suddenly into the turbid water that washed his 
feet. 



136 ' A PROUD BIRD. 

"In the mean time, the four remaining cormorants were 
huddled together on the far end of the raft, drying their 
feathers, switching their tails, and looking altogether quite 
cool and comfortable. After being down from ten to 
fifteen seconds, the absent explorer hopped suddenly out 
of the water with quite a good-sized fish in his mouth, 
swam to his master, gave up the half-swallowed prize, 
and hopped upon his knee, where he shook himself 
while the fish was being put in the basket. His master 
then stroked him down as before, — much to his apparent 
delight, — whispered again in his ear, and placed him 
once more upon the edge of the raft. 

" Again he dived, and again he came up with a fish. 
He then underwent a similar process of caressing, and 
was once more placed on the water's edge. ITow, how- 
ever, fortune seemed to have left him. He had no fish 
when he arose after a protracted absence, and seemed at 
a loss what to do. He turned himself around in the 
water several times, keeping his dark eyes fixed on his 
master's as if asking permission to try it again. Sud- 
denly the latter made a motion with his hand, and down 
he went. When he came up he brought quite a large 
fish, — eight inches long, say, — which struggled violently, 
as though surprised at the unusual situation in which he 
found himself. He too was put in the basket, the 
proud cormorant once more caressed, and then placed 
gently in the centre of the raft instead of upon its edge 
as formerly. 

"This seemed to tell him that his services were no 
longer required, and that he had acquitted himself with 
considerable credit ; for he moved ofl" to the other end 



THE UNLUCKY FISHERMAN. 137 

of the raft with the stately step of a conqueror, while the 
next in turn advanced to supply his place. They seemed 
to regulate their movements by a nod or motion of the 
hand from their master. Cormorant 'No. 2 was not as 
sprightly a looking bird as his predecessor; nevertheless, 
he brought up a fish after the first dive, gave a flirt with 
his expanded tail, and swam to his master to give up 
the prize. He was taken out as before, relieved of his 
mouthful, and subsequently placed gently on the edge 
of the raft. There he sat a few moments perfectly mo- 
tionless, but, seeming suddenly to see a fish, dropped off 
like a piece of lead, and nothing more was seen of him 
for at least fifteen seconds. Then he came to the surface 
with a spring that took him almost out of the water, but 
having no fi^h. His actions now expressed his dis- 
appointment almost as plainly as words could have done. 
He did not swim toward his master as formerly, but kept 
sculling about in a small circle with his bright, unsteady 
glance fixed on him, at the imminent risk of twisting 
off his neck. 

" The master pointed down with his finger, and down 
went the unsuccessful fisherman. Still no fish. Once 
more, and still no success. Finally, he was taken back 
upon the raft, slapped soundly on the head, and thrown 
angrily down. He immediately made tracks for the 
other end, stumbling heels over head and looking very 
much ashamed of himself. The next in turn now wad- 
dled forward ; but, having seen enough, we continued on 
our way. I could not but wonder at their beautiful 
training, and, as I saw the unlucky explorer receive his 
slaps, my mind returned to the Canton River and to 



138 THE HOME OF FORGOTTEN MILLIONS. 

what the pilot had told me in regard to the ' last duck.' 
It began to look like the truth." 

Two minutes after leaving the bridge we landed on 
the south bank, and, after a ten minutes' walk through 
narrow, dark, and filthy streets, found ourselves ascend- 
ing an elevation in the rear of the town, upon which was 
the Consulate. We were received with great politeness, 
drank a cup of good cofiee, and were invited to take a 
walk before breakfast. My journal says : — 

"And now we undertook a walk while breakfast was 
preparing, — we and the four dogs, slim Mr. Clark, the 
consul, and extremely stout Mr. Sloan, his jovial partner. 
We passed through the back-entrance and found our- 
selves upon the edge of an immense graveyard, — an old 
graveyard of the oldest nation under the sun : the whole 
face of the outspreading country was mounds, mounds, 
nothing but mounds. Away over, on a shady elevation, 
Mr. Clark pointed out the burial-place that had been 
allotted to foreigners, and here and there you could see a 
house, or a solitary tree, or a huge rock; but every thing 
else was graves, — nothing but graves for miles and miles. 
Footpaths without number ran over and through these 
oblong hillocks, and a long heavy grass grew in rare 
luxuriance over their uneven surface. We walked through 
those hard-beaten paths and saw hundreds of bare-legged 
women and children cutting and bundling the grass that 
shaded their ancestors, and carrying it to the opposite 
city of eight hundred thousand souls. They looked at 
our uniform curiously as we passed, and smiled and 
laughed with great good-nature. During this walk Mr. 
Sloan gave me much information in regard to the people 



EASCALLY WANTONNESS. 139 

among whom lie was living. He said that it was only six 
years since any foreigner had been allowed to live there, 
and that even now they ran the risk of insult and loss of 
life when going through ' the city.' In consequence of 
this they generally went in sedan-chairs; but even these 
had been known to be opened and the occupant spit on 
in mere wantonness. 

" 'What did he do ?' I asked. 

"'Do?' he replied; 'he looked straight ahead, like a 
sensible man as he was : had he struck his insulter he 
would have been torn to pieces.' " 

I did Mr. Sloan the injustice at the time to think this 
might be exaggerated, but subsequently had good cause 
to believe that things were even worse. And now, since 
our return to the United States, I have seen in the Phila- 
delphia Evening Journal of September, 1856, a long 
account of the death of a Mr. Cunningham, under the 
most wanton and unprovoked circumstances. This gen- 
tleman had treated us with marked courtesy during our 
visit to Fou-chow, and was a quiet, inoffensive personage. 
He was murdered by an infuriated mob of the residents 
of the small island which I have spoken of as being near 
the south bank of that river. 

I learned further, from Messrs. Clark and Sloan, that 
the exports from Fou-chow were annually doubling them- 
selves ; and that, from the fact of its being the nearest 
seaport to the great tea-district of China, it must eventu- 
ally become the great point of export. 

After breakfast we took sedan-chairs and were carried 
over the bridge and into the densely-packed city beyond 
it. I never before saw such crowds of people as blocked 



140 VALUABLE WINE-GLASSES. 

up its narrow streets ; and, after we had been carried some 
three miles, we got out at the head of one of the most 
quiet-looking to stretch our limbs. "We were soon sur- 
rounded by a crowd of several hundred; but, though 
they followed us, laughed at us, and even frowned in 
some cases, we got back again without being "spit 
upon." "We saw some singular sights in the shops of 
that no longer " quiet street." My journal says : — 

"We entered the open door of this old-curiosity shop 
as much to avoid the crowd as any thing else, and looked 
around us to pass the time. The first thing I saw was an 
oval frame of glass, under which were two very ordinary- 
looking wine-glasses that were evidently regarded by the 
shopman as rare and valuable. To satisfy my curiosity, 
I asked him the price of them, and was told five dollars : 
they could be bought in the United States for fifty cents 
the dozen, if not less." 

"We saw also some beautiful specimens of lacquer-ware 
in another shop : — 

" This man, who was a skilful workman, and whose 
wares were all sent to Pekin (at least a thousand miles) 
as fast as they left his hands, showed us a tray containing 
twelve oval lacquered boxes about as large as one's fist, 
for which he asked fifteen dollars each : we admired them 
greatly, buttoned up our pockets, and retreated to our 
chairs." 

"We returned to the Consulate in time for dinner, and 
the next daj^ were again climbing the wall-like sides of 
the unfortunate "old John." 

"We remained at our anchorage near the pagoda 
several days, during which time we made a partial survey 



DEATH. 141 

of the river, and had the misfortune to lose a highly- 
esteemed messmate in the person of Acting Lieutenant 
Henry St. Geo. Hunter. This officer had suffered with 
the disease of the country for some months, and was now 
carried off' by it in the flower of his manhood. His 
untimely death cast a gloom over our social board, and 
deprived the Expedition of a valuable officer. "We buried 
him in the shady graveyard of the foreigners, and paid 
for the erection of a granite monument over his lamented 
remains. Poor Hal ! 

The weather having now moderated and our bunkers 
being full of wood, we again put to sea with the Cooper 
in tow, and continued our voyage to Shanghae. It proved 
but a passing lull, however, and at the end of the first 
twenty-four hours we again found ourselves beating to 
windward against a northeast gale. The reader already 
knows how the "old John" was wont to acquit herself 
under such circumstances. Like a huge disabled crab, she 
drifted helplessly to leeward, and we thought ourselves 
more than fortunate when we were able to take shelter in 
a place called Bullocks' Harbour, which we surveyed and 
made ourselves comfortable in for the space of twenty- 
four hours. There we bought four fine bullocks for seven 
dollars, a large quantity of sweet potatoes for a few pieces 
of fat pork, and sailed again the next day before a light 
breeze. 

Our glory was short : we had scarcely got sail set when 
the wind hauled in our teeth again, and we were forced 
to send down all yards and masts, and steam in under the 
land to avoid losing ground. This was ticklish work; 
sometimes we ran in such shoal water that we could see 



142 A CLOSE SHAVE. 

the bottom, and yet if we liad kept out from the land we 
would not have been able to steam against the sea : our 
only hope was to keep in smooth water, carry as much 
steam as possible, and try to get to Shanghae before our 
coal gave out. All the wood which we had taken in at 
Fou-chow was soon expended, and, before commencing 
on the remnant of coal, we burnt up all the spare timber 
about the decks, — chicken-coops, old chairs, pieces of 
masts, &c. &c., and, finally, the few tons of coal. We 
reached our port on the 7th of October, with a few bags 
of coal, — ^the sweepings of the bunkers. Had we been 
two hours later, we would have drifted helplessly about 
until the arrival of a fair wind. 



CHAPTER IX. 

•WE AEEIVE AT SHANGHAE, WHENCE WE SAIL WITH THE COMMISSIONERS 
POR THE PI-HO — WE PASS OVER THE YELLOW SEA IN HNE STYLE, 
ANCHOR IN SIGHT OP THE MOUTH OF THE PI-HO, AND SEND IN THE 

SMALLER VESSELS WE FAIL TO "REACH PEKIN BY WATER," AND 

RETURN IN DISGUST TO SHANGHAE, WHERE THE OLD JOHN'S ENGINE 
" RUNS DOWN." 

Upon our arrival at Sliangliae, we found the " Pekin 
party" awaiting our arrival with, the most intense 
anxiety. Mr. McLean, in particular, having heard a 
most doleful account of the inefficiency of our "screw- 
steamer-of-war of the third class," began to give us up, 
and had made up his mind to sail the next day should 
we not arrive. The consequence was that we had to 
work day and night coaling ship, and, when that was 
accomplished, the Powhatan took both the schooner 
and ourselves in tow, and walked off with us at the rate 
of eleven miles an hour. The Rattler followed with 
the hired lorcha, and thus we boomed it over the smooth 
and polished surface of the Yellow Sea and the Gulf of 
Pichili, until one moonlight night we found ourselves 
anchoring in six fathoms of water and no land in sight. 

The next morning we got under way and steamed 
into four fathoms, when we could just see some low 
land in the distance, which our observations told us 
tvas about the mouth of the Pi-ho River. We had not 
had a breath of wind since leaving Shanghae, and had 

143 



144 THE OLD JOHN "FEELS HER OATS." 

come several hundred miles. The sea had been like a 
broad expanse of polished glass. 

The "old John" now began to feel herself of vast 
importance : we only drew twelve-feet of water, and could 
consequently go much nearer the river than the other 
steamers ; so we took the lorcha and Cooper in tow and 
stood in for the land. "We ran into thirteen-feet water, 
and then cast off the vessels, which continued on before a 
light breeze, the lorcha getting safely into the river, and 
the schooner, which drew a foot more water, grounding 
on a bank near its mouth. "We Xvere a week getting 
her in after that, — some of the hardest work I ever 
engaged in. Then, after both she and the lorcha were 
safely anchored inside of the mud forts, the secretaries 
of the commissioners took up their residence on board 
and communications commenced. 

The Chinese seemed very averse to have any thing to 
say to us at all, and humbugged us to such an extent 
that some of us advocated the idea of forcing our way 
up to Pekin and demanding an interview in person. 
As we were not the confidential advisers of the minis- 
ters, however, our opinion had little weight, — none at 
all, I fear. 

Thus passed several weeks ; and, while the diplomatists 
were making themselves hoarse with talking, we made a 
beautiful survey of the locality, — ^the schooner attending 
to every thing inside of the river, and our ship the bar and 
adjoining coasts. The schooner had Carnes — our sailing- 
master — and his boat to assist her; and upon one occasion, 
when they were trying to ascend the river as high as pos- 
sible, they came to a barrier of junks with only a passage- 



WE PAIL TO " REACH PEKIN BY WATER." 145 

way of some twenty feet wide between the two tiers, and, 
upon their attempting to go through it, they were assailed 
by crowds of Chinese armed with spears and match- 
locks, and found themselves under the necessity of re- 
treating quietly or shedding blood. They chose the 
former, as the latter might have put a stop to all com- 
munication. Besides, the officers had no orders, and 
did not feel themselves empowered to " declare war." 

We found the Chinese of that region a powerful and 
athletic set of men," very different from those of more 
southern latitudes : the women we did not see. Lieu- 
tenant Eaper, R.N"., locates the mouth of this river in 
lat. 38° 58' N. and long. 117° 47' E., and we found ten 
feet of water on its bar at high-tide and tw^elve or four- 
teen fathoms inside. From all that we could see, there 
was no reason why an ordinary river-steamer might not 
ascend it to within a few miles of Pekin, this city being 
situated some distance from the bank. 

Our commissioners had one or two grand "powwows" 
on the beach inside of the river, which we all attended 
in full uniform, after which they steamed away in dis- 
gust, leaving the " old John" and the Cooper to con- 
tinue the survey toward the Great "Wall of China, now 
only some hundred miles to the northward and eastward 
of us. As far as I have been able to learn, our "attempt 
to reach Pekin by water" was followed by no results; 
but this failure must not be placed at the door of Mr. 
McLean and Sir John Powering : it was entirely owing 
to the determination of the Chinese to keep all foreigners 
out of the centre of their empire. 

We now spent several days working up to the Great 

10 



146 TIDAL OBSERVATIONS. 

Wall, during wliicli time myself and a boat's crew nar- 
rowly escaped drowning. My journal says, — 

"At 10 A.M., every thing in the shape of provisions, 
water, ammunition, &c. being in the boat, and the crew 
amply provided with pea-jackets and blankets, w^e shoved 
off and dropped slowly astern, while the Phenomenon 
herself (the ' old John') began laboriously to gather her 
sluggish headway. Soon we heard the engine-bell ring 
four times, (ahead strong,) and then voices began to die 
away and faces to be confused by the increasing dis- 
tance. We were left alone upon the proverbially-trea- 
cherous bosom of the Gulf of Pichili, with a clumsy and 
leaky boat, a six-pounder howitzer mounted forward, 
a week's provision, (in case of being lost,) and water 
stowed about in spots, and a dozen ashen oars, one mast 
and sail, with which to protect ourselves against said 
proverbial treachery. 

" Our orders were to anchor where we were left and 
make tidal observations during the day, after which we 
would be picked up by the Phenomenon toward night, 
— a most unpleasant prospect for a cold, raw day. 
Down went the anchor, however, as soon as said Phe- 
nomenon cleared us, over went the lead, and the mono- 
tonous employment commenced. It consisted of sounding 
every ten minutes, the time and depth of water being 
noted in lead-pencil at each cast; and the hours passed 
heavily enough, as may be imagined. 

" It was one of the most quiet days I ever passed, — 
quiet, not only so far as work and noise were concerned, 
but also in the perfect rest of the elements. S'ot a pass- 
ing cloud interposed itself between us and the w^elcome 



A RISING GALE. 147 

rays of the sun; not a fitful breath of disturbed air 
chilled our blood, or darkly ruffled the smooth and 
placid surface of the sleeping gulf. All was quiet : nature 
lived her inanimate life around us in the form of water 
and sky only ; for the low land of Pichili, though visible 
from the deck of the steamer, had sunk below the clearly- 
defined horizon as we descended into the boat, and the 
ship herself had slowly steamed from us on her trackless 
path, until, from a mere speck upon the opposite horizon, 
she had finally disappeared entirely. Il^either the air 
nor the water showed a sign of life. 'We were alone 
upon the motionless surface of an unknown sea, with 
the silent repose of nature for our only companion. At 
noon I got an altitude of the sun, and then, leaving the 
coxswain to note the soundings, stretched out for a nap 
in the sunny corner of the stern-sheets. An hour passed, 
and its last minutes found me shivering with cold and 
gazing anxiously at a lowering change which had come 
over the face of awakening nature. 

"The sea was no longer smooth and polished, but 
broken by rising waves and of an inky hue ; while the 
sun was hidden by dense masses of driving clouds whose 
lurid edges indicated the commencement of a northern 
gale. The wind was already blowing quite fresh, and 
the boat rolling uneasily in the rising sea, dipping in the 
spray-crests occasionally, and jerking at her anchor as if 
asking for more chain. I began to think we might be in 
an awkward predicament, but kept my fears to myself, 
and ordered more chain veered. Then we unshipped the 
howitzer and got it in the bottom, after which she rode 
easier. Anxious eyes now began to be cast in the sup- 



148 A MOST UNPLEASANT SITUATION. 

posed direction of the ship, but even her smoke was not 
to be seen. There was a smoky appearance, truly, but it 
was that of the rising gale ; and, as we wrapped our blan- 
kets around our shivering frames, we kn ew that there was 
anxiety, and work, and danger, — possibly death, — in the 
voice of the leaping waves and in those lurid masses of 
hurrying clouds. 

"The water was now coming over the bow quite fast; 
so we commenced baling, served out an extra allowance 
of grog, and continued watching for the ship. 

"And so another and another hour rolled by, and the 
gloom of approaching night began to deepen that of the 
rising gale. Ours was now a most unpleasant situation. 
The water was swashing over either beam at every roll, 
curling over the bow at every dive, and giving us sharp 
work with both buckets to keep it from gaining on us. 
After a while it did gain on us, and men's faces began to 
turn pale. I felt that things were getting desperate, and, 
adjusting a glass, swept the eastern board in the vain 
hope of catching a glimpse of the expected smoke : there 
was nothing to be seen but a bank of moving mist. 

" Our circle of vision had by this time been narrowed 
down to a diameter of some two miles, and we were just 
fearing that the ship might miss us in the fog, when sud- 
denly, like a meteor shooting into the clear sky from 
behind a passing cloud, she burst through the bank of 
thickening mist into a glorious full view. She was distant 
not more than a mile, was smoking like a young volcano, 
was under a crowd of sail at the same time, and, in short, 
evidently doing her best to reach us. A long-drawn breath 
seemed to relieve every one. A few minutes later we 



"SPECIAL service" AND "EXTRA PAT." 149 

were alongside, witli the boat half full of water, ourselves 
soaked to the skin and half numbed with cold, but still 
safe. 

"'Glad to see you!' said the captain, as we crawled 
heavily over the side. 'Bad weather came up very sud- 
denly : didn't it ? l!^ever mind ; it'll rub off when it gets 
dry : besides, this is special service, for which Congress is 
to give us extra pay. Heave the ship to with her head 
off shore, Mr. Russell.' So much for this unpleasantly- 
near approach to a long swim." 

We now experienced a continued spell of bad weather, 
which forced us to relinquish the idea of reaching the 
Great Wall, and drove us with tingling ears from the Gulf 
of Pichili into the Yellow Sea. I have already remarked 
that the surface of this sea was like a vast expanse of 
polished glass when we crossed it in tow of the Pow- 
hatan, and that we had not felt a breath of wind during 
the passage ; but now, alas ! how changed was the state 
of affairs ! The sea was dark and broken, and gale suc- 
ceeded gale in place of the endless calm. There were 
some doubtful islands in this sea which we wished to 
satisfy ourselves in regard to before returning to Shang- 
hae, and several more days were devoted to searching for 
them. "We were unsuccessful ; and, finding time running 
short, squared away on our return-trip. 

This was during the latter part of November, 1854, — the 
28th, I think ; and that night we had a fearful time. Let 
me describe it. 

Imagine yourself upon the restless ocean with the 
destroying hurricane breathing its furious breath around 
your labouring craft ; with the rugged rocks and boiling 



150 A HARD CHOICE. 

surf of the dreaded "lee shore" looming upon the misty 
horizon, and warning you of the necessity of " holding 
your own" against the gale, while friendly miles of space 
yet lie between you and their fatal dangers. Imagine 
yourself watching the strained canvas and the complain- 
ing spar, the hauling gale, the heavy dive into the green 
seas, and the distant land, which, as the gale hauls, is 
fast changing into the dreaded "lee shore." Imagine 
yourself at the commencement of a dark and stormy 
night, with the position of your ship but poorly defined 
upon an unreliable chart, suddenly called upon to run 
her through a narrow passage, before the gale, while yet 
its direction enabled you to do so, or remain "hove to" 
with the strong probability of being wrecked on the 
rocks before morning. Imagine yourself in circum- 
stances similar to these, and you can readily appreciate 
our feelings as the shades of such a dark and stormy 
night closed around us and left us to choose between 
those two evils. 

"We had scarcely squared away when the weather, 
which had been overcast and threatening for some days, 
came on very thick and heavy, and combined with un- 
known currents, want of observations, and doubtful 
charts, to render our position perilous in the extreme. 
"We had been several days without a glance at any celes- 
tial body when we kept away, and the consequence was 
that we did not veiy well know where loe loere running to 
at such a grand rate : we might soon find ourselves on a 
pile of rocks for what we knew ; so we wisely hove to 
under a close-reefed maintopsail, and with just enough 
steam on to keep the old tub from falling off into the 



THE RESULT OF A " WEATHER-ROLL." 151 

trough, of tlie rapidly-iu creasing sea. Even with tlie 
assistance of steam, however, we did not make half the 
weather of it that the little Cooper did, who, with her 
close-reefed foresail only, climbed over the threatening 
seas with the lightness of a feather and "held her own" 
beautifully ; while we, like a huge crab, drifted bodily to 
leeward, as usual. The consequence of this was that in a 
very few hours we lost sight of her light, and when we 
next saw it it was off the town of Shanghae. I turn to 
my journal for an account of our subsequent doings: — 

"We drifted along quite miserably in this way for 
some time, our decks being no sooner well clear of one 
sea than another would slap her on the bow, curl over 
the rail, and sweep aft through the lee gangway. "We 
had taken the precaution to batten down all of the for- 
ward hatches before the arrival of night, and at about 
four bells in the first watch (10 p.m.) began to wish that 
we had done likewise by the after ones. At that hour a 
heavy weather-roll brought in a sea over the main chains 
that deluged the quarter-deck, filled the ward-room and 
our state-rooms six inches deep, and swashed up into 
our bunks with so much effect as to soak our beds and 
awaken us m.ost thoroughly. 

"Having the mid-watch ahead, I had turned in an 
hour before, and was annoyed, though not at all sur- 
prised, at my nocturnal bath : it was not the first thing 
of the kind by any means, and, being easily pleased, I 
was fast becoming reconciled to it as one of the neces- 
sary accompaniments of that interesting cruise. Buckets, 
dippers, and swabs, were now in great demand, and a 
quarter-watch — called quarter, I suppose, because it means 



152 HOW WE SLEPT DURING BAD WEATHER. 

half the watcli that are on deck — was sent below to pass 
up the water, while the others helped the cai-penter to 
batten down the offending hatches. 

" "While the men were thus baling, while the old ship' 
rolled horribly, and while I was turning over my mattress 
in the partially-successful search for a dry spot upon which 
to coil myself away for the next two hours, — while all of 
this was going on, I heard a knock at my state-room door, 
and then the voice of the quartermaster of the watch : — 

" ' Mr. Habersham !' 

"'Well?' 

" ' The cap'n wants you, sir.' 

a (. rpj^Q mischief he does ! How many bells is it?' 

" ' Gone four, sir !' 

" ' Very well ! Any thing wrong ?' 

" 'No, sir! Only it's a-blowin' a livin' gale, and she's 
mighty uncomfortable. The cap'n wants you in the 
cabin with Mr. Eussell and the master : they're all over 
the chart now.' 

"'All right!' I exclaimed; but I buttoned up my 
monkey-jacket over a vast deal of disgust and dissatis- 
faction as I stepped down into the half knee-deep water, 
and made my way aft through a confused mass of broken 
chairs, floating spittoons, and baling men. I never felt 
so out with the sea, so great a longing to quit it for a 
shore-profession, as I did during that groping walk; and, 
as I put my hand upon the cabin- door, my mind was 
pretty well made up never again to engage in a surveying 
and exploring expedition around the world. 

" ' Sorry to disturb you, Mr. H ,' said the captain, 

as I opened the door and took off my cap ; ' but the truth 



UNPLEASANT INFORMATION. 153 

is, we are getting into anotlaer of our tight places, and 
want to advise together as the best course to avoid it.' 

" 'You haven't disturbed me at all, sir,' I replied ; ' the 
water got the start of you : our rooms are all afloat again 
in the ward-room.' 

" ' So I hear. Well, I'm afraid we'll have to steam up 
and get her off before this gale. We are making such a 
bad weather of it that we have parted company with the 
Cooper. The gale blows stronger every minute, and 
hauls too : if it continues thus for two hours, it will make 
the coast of China a lee shore. We must run through 
between the capes before it heads us off, or stand our 
chance of holding our own sufficiently well to keep off 
the land. R and C and myself have been talk- 
ing it over, and think we'd better run for the China Sea, 
in spite of the strong chance that exists of our running 
down one or the other of the capes. We don't know 
where we are: we have only dead reckoning to work 
upon, but we think it the best chance. Have you any 
thing to advise ?' 

"I looked at Carnes. He had made two black spots 
on the chart, and joined them by a straight line. 

" 'We have every reason to suppose that we are on this 
line,' he said, in answer to my look of inquiry ; ' but upon 
what exact part of it we cannot say. The chances are 
about two out of three that we are between the spots ; 
hence we may be outside, and, if we are outside and con- 
clude to run, we are lost. We propose steering a south 
course, which will take us between the capes and into the 
open sea, if our supposition is right. If I have allowed 
too much or too little for drift and current, or if the chart 



154 A GREAT SATISFACTION. 

is mucli out, we will strike on the east or west cape, as 
the case may be. If we remain here and the gale goes 
on hauling, we will be on a lee shore before morning, and 
you know what the old beast would do then. My voice is 
for running on a south course. Voila! — the elephant!' 

"He shrugged his shoulders, half Frenchman as he is, 
and indulged in a muttered imprecation, as the ship made 
a heavy lurch that almost threw us from our feet. 

" 'I think, too, that our best chance is in running, sir,' 
I replied, as Stevens again asked my opinion ; ' it's an 
ugly night, and we are as likely to feel the capes as see 
them : still, it won't do to remain here.' 

"'Well, then, run it is; we have the satisfaction of 
knowing that we are all agreed, at any rate. Tell Mr. 
Lawton to get up plenty of steam ; and have all hands 
called to wear ship. G-oose-wing the foresail, secure 
every thing about the decks, batten down the cabin sky- 
light, and let me know when you're ready for putting the 
helm up. There's an awful sea running, but we must 
try to find a smooth time, and then get by the trough as 
soon as possible.' 

" So we left him and went on deck, where an active 
and exciting scene at once commenced. The clear, shrill 
whistle of our only boatswain's mate first arose over the 
howling of the gale, and called every man to his station 
for ' wearing ship.' Then commenced the preparations, — 
lights floating around the gloomy decks, and only serving 
to render every thing more gloomy than before; men 
hurrying here and there ; the flapping of sails, the creak- 
ing of blocks, the slapping about of the running rigging, 
and the unnatural voice of the speaking-trumpet striving 



ANXIOUS MOMENTS. 155 

in vain to make itself heard over tlie battle of the ele- 
ments. Nor was this all : the thick sheets of descending 
rain, the heavy seas which now often broke over half the 
length of the ship, and the visible darkness, whose gloom, 
as I have said, seemed only increased by the flitting lights 
that danced around the decks, combined to render the 
whole affair any thing but pleasant, and promised us an 
anxious night. 

"The men, too, became frightened, and Russell, who, 
as second lieutenant, had his station on the forecastle, find- 
ing them afraid to ascend even to the foreyard, sprang 
into the rigging in the hope of shaming them into bold- 
ness. The device succeeded, and in twenty minutes 
from the commencement every thing was ready. The 
captain now took his position near the wheel, while I 
climbed into the weather mizzen-rigging and commenced 
to watch anxiously the towering seas as they rolled by, 
partly under our keel, partly over our decks. Those 
were some of the most anxious moments of my whole 
life, as we thus awaited the arrival of a period of com- 
parative quiet to enable the helm to be put up with safety. 
It was so dark that we could not see the seas until they 
were, nearly upon us, and we could only hope to feel, by 
the change in the ship's motion, when the proper time 
was arriving. Finally,! judged it at hand, and, as the old 
ship recovered herself after a more than usually heavy 
lurch and dive, gave the orders, 'Hard up the helm! Go 
ahead strong with the engine ! Brace in the after yards ! 
Haul aboard the fore tack!" And then every thing was 
done that we could do. It now became the turn of the 
head sails, of the helm, and of the propeller, to do the 



156 HOLD hard! 

rest. If she went off before the wind previous to the 
arrival of another heavy sea, we were all right ; if she 
hung in the trough, we would, in all probability, founder 
in five minutes. In either case, nothing more could be 
done to help her : the die had been cast. 

"I grasped the rigging more tightly, and strained my 
eyes toward the labouring bow ; but every thing was so 
dark and impenetrable that I could only Ao^e that she was 
falling off. Suddenly I felt the wind drawing abeam, 
then abaft it. I began to breathe freely. * * * * 
"What a glorious thing a propeller is ! "When the helm 
had been put up, the old tub was lying like a log in the 
troubled ocean, and yet the rushing waters of the whirl- 
ing screw, acting upon the lee face of the rudder, turned 
her as upon a pivot, thus bringing both wind and sea abaft 
the beam sooner than we had any reason to hope for. 
Yes ; the dreaded trough was passed quickly, and yet not 
a second too soon ; for it was no sooner accomplished 
than the heaviest sea of any that had yet struck us came 
rolling up under our weather quarter, broke completely 
over our decks, and caused the old ship to vibrate as if 
every timber in her had been started. 

" It was a beautiful as well as a fearful sight, to see that 
sea rear its tottering crest over the very quarter, cast 
itself bodily upon our trembling decks, and then rush for- 
ward, half of it in-board, half of it out-board, along our 
weather bulwarks, sweeping with it arm-chests, gratings, 
spare spars, yelping dogs, squeaking pigs, empty chicken- 
coops, struggling men, — in short, every thing that was 
movable. Some of these it swept completely overboard ; 
others it lodged in the ropes along the bulwarks, or piled 



{'■■'■ 




..'-■'ft" 







^ ' 



14 ii 



f 



RUNNINa THE GAUNTLET. 157 

in a confused mass under and about the launch. All 
along our weather bulwark it broke also, from the very 
quarter to the distant stem, pouring in over the rail like 
a young Niagara, loosening spars from the chains, and 
twisting off the wing of the crow-like eagle that had for 
years adorned (?) our bow. It was a fearful shock, and 
we feared for the ship after it. "What would have been 
our fate had it struck us fair on the beam ? At the same 
time, it was productive of a good result ; for, as her stern 
settled down as its body passed from under us, we were 
urged forward with a velocity which, combined with the 
action of the propeller, threw us before both wind and 
sea and told us that the danger of the trough was passed.. 
"We actually astonished the barnacles and rudder-fish by 
flying before the gale at the rate of eleven knots the 
hour; and, even after disconnecting the propeller, we 
found her speed but slightly reduced, so heavy was the 
gale and sea that drove us ahead. 

"And thus we ran the gauntlet of those rugged capes, 
through that dark night, that blinding rain, that shriek- 
ing hurricane, and before those angry seas that growled 
and broke and rose again under our flying stern. The 
night seemed longer, and darker, and more dismal, than 
any night I had ever passed before ; but daylight came at 
last, and with it the conviction of safety. At noon it was 
clear weather once more, and we got observations that 
fixed our position on the chart. Then we drew a straight 
line due north from it ; and it was frightful to see how 
closely we had shaved the left cape, — so closely, that bad 
steering alone might have cast us upon its hopeless rocks, 
and then " 



158 THE GOVEKNMENT SAVES $250. 

It would be unjust to end this adventure without ac- 
cording due credit to him whose close navigation and 
sound judgment carried us safely through it, — Mr. E. O. 
Carnes, the sailing-master of the ship, then a passed-mid- 
shipman, and now the occupant of a Wall Street office. 
The hardships of that cruise, combined with a latent dis- 
taste for the sea, disgusted him with the navy and caused 
him to resign his warrant. Fortunately for the Expedi- 
tion, he could not hear of the acceptance of his resigna- 
tion by the Government until our arrival at San Francisco, 
when he was thrown upon his own resources and allowed 
to find his way home as best he could. 

We now shaped our course for Shanghae, and while 
entering the Woo-sung River the propeller suddenly 
"ran down," and forced us to anchor to avoid drifting 
on shore. We could not imagine what caused this sin- 
gular stoppage, and resorted to every device to get it to 
start again. We finally had to blow ofi" steam and trust 
to our sails to get us up to the city, which was only a few 
miles off. It took us several days to accomplish this ; and 
we could not but wonder what would have been our fate 
had it failed us during or immediately after the gale. 
We were subsequently engaged more than two months 
repairing it, — a great loss of valuable time, and the source 
of considerable expense to the Government. 



CHAPTER X. 

WE HEAR A DISTRESSING RUMOUR AND ARE GREATLY DISPIRITED — WE ARE 
REQUESTED BY THE MERCHANTS OF SHANGHAE TO ATTACK A PIRATICAL 
SQUADRON, AND EVINCE A PRAISEWORTHY READINESS FOR ACTION — THE 
OLD JOHN ASTONISHES THE CHINESE OF THE WAN-CHEW RIVER, AFTER 
WHICH SHE VISITS FORMOSA AND LIBERATES TWO CHINESE CONVICTS. 

While we were working our toilsome way np the 
Woo-sung River, a painful rumour spread itself around 
our decks and weighed us down with a shapeless and 
horrid fear. It was said that the Porpoise was lost; but 
how the news came, or who had spoken positively of it, 
no one could tell. A startled feeling of doubt, and sur- 
prise, and distressing uncertainty, pervaded every heart 

"While in this gloomy state of mind, we were one day 
greatly relieved by the arrival of the Cooper, whom, it 
will be remembered, we had left in the Yellow Sea, exposed 
to the fury of a heavy gale and the dangers of a probable 
lee shore. We had been so disheartened by the report 
of the loss of the Porpoise, that our fears for the safety 
of our little consort had been morbidly increased, and 
we were now proportionately inspirited by her appear- 
ance. She anchored near us to see if she could be of 
any assistance, (we were aground,) but, finding us obliged 
to wait the rising of the tide, got under way again and 
stood on up the river. A few days later we reached the 
city ourselves, when we received a visit from the consul, 
who confirmed our worst fears in regard to the Porpoise. 

159 



160 WE PREPARE FOR WAR. 

There seemed to be no doubt as to the truth of the 
rumour. Still, we found it difficult to give up our con- 
fidence in her as a sea-boat, or in her officers as skilful 
and able men. We remained in a painful state of sus- 
pense for months. 

We now found it necessary to put the Hancock into 
dock before we could ascertain what affected the pro- 
peller, and by the time she got out again the month of 
December was passed and we found ourselves commenc- 
ing the year of 1855. "We were no sooner ready for sea 
than a report reached Shanghae that an English opium- 
clipper was blockaded by pirates in the "Wan-chew Eiver ; 
and, as it was only slightly out of our route to the island 
of Formosa, the captain readily complied with the wish 
of the merchants that we should touch there on our way 
and rescue her from their clutches. We consequently 
hurried our departure, and, after fighting many imagi- 
nary battles to get our hands in for " deeds of blood and 
valour," we arrived at the spot and found that the pirates 
had retired and that the schooner had gone to sea some 
days since. We now reworked our way through the 
numerous sand-banks that guard the mouth of that 
rarely-visited river, and shaped a course for Keilung, a 
harbour in the northern end of the unknown island of 
Formosa. But, before I leave Wan-chew, let me say a 
word in regard to the "sensation" which the "Old 
John" created among the crowds of astonished Chinese 
who lined the banks of that river to see a vessel sailing 
head to wind and current without any apparent motive- 
power. 

Persons who are in the daily habit of seeing a balloon 



WE ASTONISH THE NATIVES. 161 

ascend, of wondering over the strange secrets of electricity, 
or of witnessing the silent progress of a propeller-steamer, 
will have to reflect a moment before they can appreciate 
the feeling of alarmed curiosity which fills the semi- 
civilized or savage breast when for the first time it 
beholds such apparent miracles. In the present case, we 
had our sails furled, were steaming with anthracite coal, 
which made no smoke, and were running through a 
strong current and against a light breeze. There was 
nothing in the world to give ignorant minds the slightest 
clue as to how we got ahead : they were as much con- 
founded as we would have been to have seen an ox-cart 
going up-hill by itself. As we thus ascended the winding 
river, the villages which teemed along its banks poured 
forth their excited inhabitants to witness the strange spec- 
tacle, — men, women, and children, hurrying to the water's 
edge, watching our mysterious progress, and then return- 
ing slowly to their homes as if they had seen enough to 
think about for the next week. After we had anchored, 
they approached us warily in their boats, refusing to 
come alongside, and keeping their eyes on our every 
movement. They were evidently in doubt as to our 
terrestrial origin, or rather as to that of the Old John. 
Finally, we landed at a village abreast of our anchorage, 
and they began to get more reconciled, closing around 
us in great numbers and pointing to the ship in con- 
tinued wonder. They were evidently seeking informa- 
tion, which we could only impart by signs. 

While entering this river, we picked up a fishing-boat 
and compelled one of its owners to pilot us in ; and it 

was he who had anchored us oiF this village, declaring 

11 



162 HIGH LIVING. 

that we could not get any higher up on account of 
sunken rocks, the captain having been anxious to anchor 
near the principal town. "We could see from this village 
quite a large walled town which was between us and the 
larger city, and Hartman and "Williams that evening 
climbed its wall and promenaded its streets, to the in- 
finite terror of the female and juvenile portions of the 
population. They described it as being very thinly in- 
habited, — evidently an old city that was being gradually 
deserted. The latitude of this river is about 28° N"., and 
its longitude 120° 38' E. It will never probably be any 
thing more than a haunt for pirates. 

We had a fine run to Keilung, where we fell in with 
the Cooper, — she having sailed direct for that port, — and 
where we found quite a snug anchorage for one or two 
sail. We also found ducks, vegetables, and oranges 
quite plentiful, the latter being as fine as any I ever ate. 
We had also been told of the existence of coal a few 
miles in the interior; but, upon applying to the authori- 
ties, (such as they were.) they gave us, as usual, the most 
evasive answers. The captain was, however, determined 
to get some specimens; so he and one or two of the mess, 
with his Chinese steward as interpreter, started back into 
the country to discover the deposit. They were soon 
encountered by two men, who ofiered to guide them to 
the spot, provided they might be allowed to go to Hong- 
Kong in the ship ; and, as it seemed a simple case of buy- 
ing and selling, the captain consented. They told him 
that there was a law forbidding any one to show the way 
to the coal-mine, upon pain of death; but, upon our 
arrival at Hong-Kong, we learned that Keilung was a 



THE MAN-EATERS OF FORMOSA. 163 

penal settlement of the Chinese, and that those two fel- 
lows were convicts who thus escaped their punishment. 

I will say nothing more about Formosa for the present. 
We left its shores about as wise as we were upon our ar- 
rival, and it was not until our second visit that we picked 
up what little information now exists upon the files of the 
Expedition in regard to it. Upon leaving Keilung for 
Hong-Kong we kept along the east coast of the island, in 
the vain search for a reported harbour. There was nothing 
to be seen but an iron-bound coast with range after range 
of lofty mountains lifting themselves above the heavy 
surf that broke along the entire beach. One day we 
thought we had discovered it : we saw ahead the smoke of 
distant villages rising back of a bight in the coast which 
looked very much like a harbour; but, upon approaching 
it, we found ourselves mistaken. We, however, lowered 
a boat and attempted to land, but the surf was breaking 
so furiously that it would have been madness to have 
entered it. Besides, the beach was crowded by naked 
and excited savages, whom it was generally "^reported 
were cannibals, and into whose company we should con- 
sequently have preferred being thrown with reliable arms 
in our hands. The two convicts, whom the captain had 
taken in the boat to interpret in case of his being able to 
land, became so frightened at the savage appearance of 
those reported man-eaters, that they went on their knees 
to him', protesting, through the steward, that the islanders 
had eaten many of their countrymen, and that if he went 
any nearer they would do the same by him and the 
boat's crew. Finding it impossible to pass the surf, the 
boat returned on board, and we squared away for Hong- 



164 THE END OF HOPE. 

Kong, where we arrived on the 13th of February, 1855, 
and found the Vincennes alone at her moorings. "We 
looked with straining eyes and sinking hearts for the 
well-known hull and spars of the devoted brig. They 
were nowhere to be seen. "We sighed and closed our 
glasses with a shudder. The Porpoise was lost. 

"We found that the Vincennes herself had passed 
through an unusually severe cruise during our separa- 
tion ; and as the unfortunate Porpoise had kept company 
with her up to a certain time, since when she has not 
been heard of, I make the following extract from a letter 
lately received from Lieutenant John M. Brooke, of the 
Vincennes, in regard to the manner in which they sepa- 
rated, &c. ; and I am sorry to say to the friends of those 
who were lost in her, that this extract contains all we 
know of her melancholy end : — 

" The facts relating to the Vincennes and the Porpoise, 
and the fate of the latter, are simply these : — 

"The two vessels in company were struggling with the 
northeast monsoons in the China Sea. Occasionally the 
veering wind and changing barometer indicated the pas- 
sage of a cyclone : the increasing fury of the wind and 
these indications governed the courses of the vessels. At 
length they found themselves between Formosa and the 
main, and, during the night of the 20th of September, 
they held on near mid-channel ; but in the morning the 
Vincennes, then to leeward, bore up for the Bashee pas- 
sage. It was presumed that the Porpoise would follow. 
"While the Vincennes was thus running before the wind, 
towing hawsers astern to break the sea should she cross 
the banks, the Porpoise was enveloped in a driving mist 



THE LAST OF THE PORPOISE. 165 

and lost to sight. This separation M^as regarded as of 
little moment, for the brig was well manned, and her offi- 
cers, individuallj and collectively, were men of the first 
ability and courage : — you knew them all. 

"It is generally understood by seamen that sound ves- 
sels are safer alone than in company ; for the whole at- 
tention of the commander may be devoted to the care of 
his vessel without those modifications of plan required 
when acting in concert. In those seas the obscurity of 
the night rendered it difficult to distinguish light, and 
the sound of cannon would be lost in the roaring of the 
winds and waves. Therefore, neither surprise nor special 
anxiety was experienced on that occasion. 

"The Vincennes, having passed the Bashee passage, 
entered the Pacific, and, until her arrival at the Bonin 
Islands, experienced fine weather. The arrival of the 
Porpoise — a dull sailer — was daily expected. Meanwhile 
there came on, at nigM, one of those characteristic storms 
of the Bonins, — a hurricane or cyclone. It came unhe- 
ralded, except by the slightly-increased sound of the surf 
on the outer rocks ; and it was not until the fitful gusts 
that, by their peculiar tone, are recognised by those who 
have heard it, swept from the hills over the ship, that we 
were aware of its proximity. ISTearly shut in by moun- 
tains, the Vincennes, with lower yards and topmasts struck 
and four anchors down, trembled from the vibration of the 
masts and rigging. There was no shrill whistling of the 
wind, but a deep and hollow roar ; the crests of the waves 
were caught up, and whitened the air with drift. The 
falling barometer and the veering wind presented all the 
indications of a cyclone sweeping toward the north. It 



166 CONJECTURES. 

was remarked by the ablest seamen of the Yincennes 
that she, good sea-boat as she was, would scarcely have 
survived the hurricane at sea. 

"In the confined China Sea — near the Pescadores, the 
wind blowing toward the coast of China — ^it would be 
singular indeed if no vestige of a ship wrecked or lost 
there should be found. It is not probable that the 
Porpoise was lost until she reached the vicinity of the 
Bonins. 

"She bore the character of a good sea-boat, but was 
short and deep in the waist, therefore liable to broach to, 
or to be brought by the lee, — to fill and founder." 

And this is all ! This gloomy account, similar to that 
which was laid before us on our arrival at Hong-Kong, 
contains in its hopeless lines all that is known of the fate 
of the time-worn old brig and her crew of near a hun- 
dred souls. The subsequent search which was under- 
taken by the Hancock, and in which we persisted at the 
imminent risk of our ship and lives, resulted in nothing 
save disappointment, danger, and loss of time. That 
dense and driving mist which enveloped her in its shroud- 
like embrace may have veiled from the curious eyes of 
her receding consort an unequal conflict, waged between 
man's godlike brain on the one side and the power of 
the elements and some untoward accident on the other; 
or she may have followed the stormy path of her more 
fortunate consort, and perished within a day's sail of 
the Bonin Islands. Certain it is that no ordinary combi- 
nation of circumstances would have sufficed to bring 
about her uncertain fate. That brig, and the man who 
controlled her slightest movement with the experienced 



WE LOSE A VALUABLE OFFICER. 167 

will of Ms well-balanced brain, had now rested after the 
labours of their perilous cruise, had not some insur- 
mountable danger crossed their path, against which all 
human precautions were of no avail. Peace — eternal 
peace — be to the glorious manes of those who share her 
unknown grave, and to those mourning friends whose 
dearest hopes, whose fond longings for an earthly re- 
union, are blighted by the withering evidence of time's 
onward roll ! There is no more room for hope. 

We were now once more in Hong-Kong, — the Yiu- 
cennes, ourselves, and the Cooper. Further changes 
soon began to be talked of as to the of&cering of the 
different vessels, — the result of the wasting hand of 
disease, which was by this time thinning our ranks. "We 
had buried Lieutenant Hunter in the vast burial-ground 
of Fou-chow-fou, and now Acting-master R. R. Carter, 
of the Vincennes, was lying dangerously ill at the 
house of a friend on shore. He was partially restored 
to health after a protracted illness, and iinall}^ succeeded 
in reaching his Virginia home ; but he never again did 
any duty in the Expedition, nor will he, I fear, ever 
regain his former strength. After the loss of the Por- 
poise, the detachment of this accomplished officer was 
the greatest misfortune that the Expedition experienced. , 

This vacancy on board the flag-ship caused Lieu- 
tenant Russell to be ordered to fill it; and Lieutenant 
McCuUom, having grown tired of keeping guard off Can- 
ton, in the Kennedy, was induced to join the Hancock in 
his place. He was my senior officer, and as such un- 
willingly relieved me of the combined duties of first 
lieutenant, boatswain, and gunner of a shaky old steamer 



168 PLANS FOR THE FUTURE. 

at which people looked and wondered that she was still 
afloat. 

"We had all been so roughly handled during our late 
cruise that considerable time was now required for re- 
pairs; and while these were going on a third set of 
astronomical observations were obtained by Lieutenant 
Brooke, the astronomer of the expedition. They were 
culminations of the moon, and the mean of the three 
sets was satisfactory in the extreme. Finally, the spring 
set in, and found us again ready for sea ; and, in order 
to run over as much space as possible, each vessel was 
assigned a separate track. 

The Vincennes was to proceed, via the Bonin Islands, 
to Loo-choo, the Cooper to take in some islands to the 
northward and eastward of Formosa on her way to the 
same port, and the Hancock to search for the Porpoise 
in the Formosa Channel, to survey the southwest and 
east coast of that island, and then join the other two 
vessels at their port of destination. From thence we 
were to proceed by different routes to the port of Hako- 
dadi, island of Jesso, — the Cooper going through the 
Japan Sea, and the Vincennes and Hancock through a 
long chain of islands, touching at Simoda, island of 
I^Tipon, and finally joining the Cooper at Hakodadi. 
From thence the Vincennes was to pass along the east 
coast of Kamtschatka and Asia, through Behring's Straits, 
and into the Arctic; the Cooper was to examine the 
Kurile, the Fox, and the Aleutian Islands; and the 
Hancock to survey the entire circumference of the 
Okotsk Sea, the great centre of the American whalers. 
It was understood that the middle of October was to 



SEAKCH FOR THE PORPOISE. 169 

find us again united in the harbour of San Francisco, 
California. 

It was another stormy season as we again put to se? 
from Hong-Kong, and we had a most uncomfortable 
time working up against strong northerly gales. As 
already observed, we were bound to the Pescadore 
Islands, and thence around the south cape of Formosa. 
We were hunting for the missing brig, or for a stranded 
plank or floating cask that should tell us of her fate. 
We had little or no data to assist us in this search. A 
black spot pricked upon the chart of the China Sea by 
Commander Rodgers was our only guide. "It was 
there we left her," said he: "go and seek our brother- 
officers, and may Heaven prosper your search!" We 
arrived at the harbour of Makung on the 26th of March, 
and remained there two days. Makung is the largest 
settlement of the Pescadores, and is inhabited by 
Chinese. We communicated with them through our 
Chinese servants, could hear nothing of the Porpoise, 
and left for the coast of Formosa. Upon sighting the 
latter, we were overtaken by a heavy gale, against which 
we tried to steam, but, finding ourselves near founder- 
ing, put up the helm and ran down along the land 
toward a village this side of the south cape. As we 
closed in with the land the wind seemed to head us 
off, and we were glad to reach our destination without 
being blown to sea. 

And now, before I turn to my journal for a few pages 
in regard to our experience while coasting around this 
island, let me enlighten the reader as much as possible 



170 HISTORY OF FORMOSA. 

in regard to it from other sources. The Encyclopaedia 
Britannica says, — 

"The Dutch at an early period established a settle- 
ment on this island. 

"In 1625, the viceroy of the Philippine Islands sent an 
expedition against Formosa, with a view of expelling the 
Dutch. It was unsuccessful. . . . About the middle of 
the seventeenth century, it afforded a retreat to twenty 
or thirty thousand Chinese from the fury of the Tartar 
conquest. ... In 1653, a conspiracy of the Chinese 
against the Dutch was discovered and suppressed; and, 
soon after this, Coxinga, the governor of the maritime 
Chinese province of Tehichiang, applied for permission 
to retire to the island, which was refused by the Dutch 
governor ; on which he fitted out an expedition, consist- 
ing of six hundred vessels, and made himself master of 
the town of Formosa and the adjacent country. The 
Dutch were then allowed to embark and leave the 
island. . . . Coxinga afterward engaged in a war with 
the Chinese and Dutch, in which he was defeated and 
slain. But they were unable to take possession of the 
island, which was bravely defended by the posterity 
of Coxinga ; and it was not till the year 1683 that the 
island was voluntarily surrendered by the reigning prince 
to the Emperor of China. ... In 1805, through the 
weakness of the Chinese government, the Ladrone 
pirates had acquired possession of a great part of the 
southwest coast." 

The Encyclopaedia Americana says, — 

" The island is about two hundred and forty miles in 
length from north to south, and sixty from east to west 



THE COUNT DE BENYOWSKY. 171 

in its broadest part, but greatly contracted at each, 
extremity. That part of the island which the Chinese 
possess presents extensive and fertile plains, watered by 
a great number of rivulets that fall from the eastern 
mountains. Its air is pure and wholesome, and the 
earth produces in abundance corn, rice, and most other 
kinds of grain. Most of the India fruits are found here, — 
such, as oranges, bananas, pineapples, guavas, cocoanuts, 
— and part of those of Europe, particularly peaches, apri- 
cots, figs, grapes, chestnuts, pomegranates, watermelons, 
&c. Tobacco, sugar, pepper, camphor, and cinnamon, 
are also common. The capital of Formosa is Taiouan, — 
a name which the Chinese give to the whole island." 

In addition to the foregoing extracts from standard au- 
tbority, we have a most marvellous account of this island 
from the pen of Mauritius Augustus, Count deBenyowsky, 
a Polish refugee from Siberian exile, who visited its east 
coast in 1790 in a small armed vessel containing about 
one hundred men. The account by this nobleman is 
interesting in the extreme, but unfortunately he is guilty 
of one gross and palpable falsehood, which necessarily 
throws a shade of distrust on his entire narrative. He 
speaks " of anchoring in several fine harbours on the east 
coast;" whereas we of the Hancock searched in vain for 
any such place of refuge along that entire shore. On the 
nortb and west coasts they are quite plentiful. 

After anchoring in one of these "fine harbours," the 
count goes on to give us an idea of the people who re- 
ceived him : they were Indians, savages, and very fierce, 
— so much, so that they soon attempted the murder of a 
party that had visited their village. He now killed a 



172 A REFRESHING VIEW. 

great many of them, got up Ms anchor, and went to an 
adjoining harbour, where he was most graciously received 
for having slain so many of their enemies of the place 
they had just left. Here he fell in with a prince, who 
persuaded him into an alliance against another prince, 
and thus they fought for some time. Finally, he drags 
himself from the island, much to the distress of the prince 
his ally, who loads him down with gold and silver. It is 
impossible to read the count's narrative and say what he 
did see. He was evidently a blood-relative of the Mun- 
chausen family. 

And now, having shown what others say in regard to 
Formosa, let us return to the "old John," whom we left 
at anchor under shelter of its west coast, at the close of a 
stormy day. Here is what my journal says in regard to 
our arrival, and to what we saw and did upon the follow- 
ing days : — 

""We could see nothing that night save an extensive 
stretch of white sand-beach backed by a sloping green, 
in the rear of which we imagined we saw a village slum- 
bering under the deepening shadows of a high range of 
mountains. But this village existed, many said, only in 
the vivid imaginations of a few, and it was not until dark- 
ness had become sufficiently dark to reflect its many 
lights that the fact was generally admitted. The next 
morning, however, we had a most refreshing view spread 
out before us, — green slopes and waving fields of grain, 
broken here and there by extensive tracts of table-land, 
over which we could see the cattle roving in their lazy 
search for the more tender mouthfuls of the abundant 
grass. 



HIGH CONDITION OF BUST-PEOOF. 173 

"It is a beautiful sight for any one to look upon — these 
landscapes composed of sloping lawns, waving fields, 
grazing cattle, a village here and there, and the moun- 
tain-sides glistening with the sunlit spray of rushing 
waterfalls. But when to all this is added the fact of one 
being just from the sea, and gazing upon lands seldom 
beheld by the eye of civilization, it becomes a scene well 
calculated to drive the blood through the veins with 
increased velocity. One feels like rushing wildly through 
those waving fields, and throwing his salt-impregnated 
frame into the mountain-stream, or rolling childlike 
upon the green grass, and feeling himself away from the 
sea at last. 

" This was all very beautiful, very desirable, but unfor- 
tunately just then quite unattainable. For the gale still 
raged through, over, and around it all, most effectually 
preventing our 'rushing into the mountain-stream or 
rolling upon the green grass.' So we amused ourselves 
by overhauling our guns, which had been pronounced 
perfectly ready for service the night before, adding more 
ammunition to our already large supply, resharpening 
our bowie-knives, which had always been like razors, and 
in the various other useless though ingenious occupations 
of restless minds. 'Old bust-proof looked more service- 
able that day than I ever saw him before. 

"During the night the gale fortunately abated, and the 
next morning bust-proof and his master, several others 
of the mess, and myself, ventured into our best-pulling 
boat and struck out boldly for the beach. It was a hard 
and wet pull; but something over three-quarters of an 
hour sufficed to cross the stormy half-mile that separated 



174 DEGENERATE POSTERITY OF COXINGA. 

iiSj and, as the keel grated witli welcome tiarshness on the 
sand, we felt ourselves once more on shore. "What if 
the boat was half full of water, and we like half-drowned 
rats ? we were still on shore. 

" "We landed upon this strange and crowded beach 
without fear, simply from the fact that, while yet some 
distance off, we had readily recognised the natives as 
Chinese, and, although they were all armed with either 
the matchlock or bow and arrow, we knew too much 
of their race to anticipate violence. This crowd, which 
received us in a most noisy manner, was composed of 
men, women, and children, — the males of. almost every 
age being armed. We had taken the precaution to bring 
one of our Chinese mess-boys with us ; but, their language 
being neither the Mandarin, Canton, or Shanghae dialect, 
he at first found great difficulty in making himself 
understood. After a while, however, b}^ the aid of the 
few words common to each and a fearful amount of 
violent pantomime on our part, we succeeded in exchang- 
ing ideas with tolerable freedom. 

"From all that we could learn from them in this way, 
it seems that they exist in a state of perpetual warfare 
with their savage neighbours of the east coast. The 
island being very narrow there, the latter find no diffi- 
culty in crossing the mountain-ridge which, like a huge 
backbone, divides the two territories, capturing cattle, 
making prisoners, burning isolated habitations, and then 
retreating into their mountain-fastnesses, where they are 
never followed by their unwarlike victims. Thus we 
always found the latter armed with sword, matchlock, or 
bow and arrow, and confining themselves strictly to their 



- % 




o ;a4^ 



iP'iliiiiiisi' 



i|l|ijp;?ii||ir|^ 



HARTMAN WHISTLES A POPULAR AIR. 175 

fields and pasture-grounds. Whenever we evinced a dis- 
position to ascend the bushy sides of the neighbouring 
hills, they became greatly alarmed, caught hold of our 
clothes, threw themselves in our paths, and made signs 
to us that our throats would be certainly cut and we 
roasted for supper by bad men who were very strong and 
fierce and who wore large rings in their ears. We did 
not know what to make of all this at first ; but Hartman, 
who had wandered off by himself in search of snipe, 
rejoined us shortly before dark, and opened our eyes. 

"Having unconsciously wandered over the low land 
and ascended a neighbouring elevation, he had seated 
himself upon a fragment of rock, and was admiring the 
view which opened before him, when his ear suddenly 
caught a sound as of some animal making its way cau- 
tiously through the bushes. He turned quickly, and saw 
a party of three, whom he had no difiiculty in recog- 
nising as 'bad men who wore large rings in their ears.' 

"Here was a fix for our innocent sportsman : he must 
either retire with an imaginary tail between his legs, or 
face boldly the unlooked-for danger. Fortunately, he 
was a man of nerve, and was moreover armed with a 
shot-gun, bowie-knife, and revolver. Choosing, therefore, 
the latter alternative, he arose with a great air of non- 
she-lan-cy, (as I once heard the word pronounced by an 
American who had been to Paris,) and advanced to the 
nearest, a tall, fine-looking fellow, who rested upon his 
bow and fixed his gaze curiously upon him. Hartman 
says that he whistled with considerable success portions of 
a popular air as he thus went, as it were, into the lion's 
mouth, but never before felt such a longing to be safely on 



176 THE "KED-MAN" in FORMOSA. 

the distant decks of the much-abused 'old John.' He 
soon joined this princely-looking savage, and as the others 
drew near he made a careful but hurried survey of their 
personal appearance, exchanged a Mexican dollar for the 
bow and arrow of one of them, evidently against the will 
of the surprised owner, and then leisurely retraced his 
way until an intervening clump of trees enabled him with 
safety to call upon his legs to do their duty. It is need- 
less to remark that the vocal music and the air of ' non- 
she-lan-cy' expired in each other's arms at this point. He 
ran for a mile or more before evincing the slightest curi- 
osity to know if he was followed." 

He described them as being of large stature, fine 
forms, copper-coloured, high cheek-bones, heavy jaws, 
coarse black hair reaching to the shoulders, and boasting 
no clothing save the maro, and a light cotton cloth over 
the shoulders, — very much like our North American In- 
dians, he thought. IsTo wonder that such a miserable race 
as the Chinese should hold them in dread : in fact, the 
only wonder is that they have the courage to remain on 
the same island. I suppose that our innocent sportsman 
is the first member of civilization who has had a close 
view of these reputed cannibals since Benyowsky, the 
Polish count, cruised along their shelterless shores in 
1790, since which time they have been more out of the 
world even than the Japanese. These singularly-cap- 
tured bow and arrows are now in the collection of the 
Expedition. 

The setting sun looked upon us as we returned on 
board, and before he had again shone on those sloping 
greens we were well on our way around the south point 



UNSUCCESSFUL ATTEMPTS TO LAND. 177 

of the island, in search of a landing among the savages 
in their own country. This, I regret to say, we never 
found, the whole east coast being one continued line of 
foaming breakers, that carried death upon their rolling 
crests to every thing like a boat. "Where were the fine har- 
bours of the Count de Benyowsky ? The roaring of the surf 
was our only answer. More than once, however, impelled 
by our excessive curiosity to learn more of these unknown 
people, did we attempt to land; and more exciting at- 
tempts at shore-going I never participated in. Upon one 
of these occasions we entered upon the dangerous trial 
with two of our best boats ; but, upon nearly losing the 
inner one, with all who were in her, we wisely returned 
on board. We got more than one near view of the 
savages, however, heard their voices, and answered their 
signs ; but all this only increased our desire to know more 
of them, for now we saw that they were veritable red 
men; and what were red men doing on the island of 
Formosa ? 

As we pulled back to the ship after our narrow escape, 
we could not but think it providential that they of the 
inner boat had failed in landing through the surf; for, 
even had they succeeded in gaining the beach with whole 
bones, their arms would still have been rendered unser- 
viceable by salt water, and, had the crowd proved un- 
friendly, we in the outer boat would certainly have 
kicked prudence overboard and pulled in to share their 
fate; and the probability is that we should all have "had 
our throats cut, and our bodies roasted for supper, by 'bad 
men who wore large rings in their ears.' " 

From what I could see over the distance which sepa- 

12 



178 AN UNPLEASANT CONVICTION. 

rated oui* boat from tlie crowded beach, I found the pre- 
vious description of our "innocent sportsman" substan- 
tiated by my own eyes and those of others. "We saw an 
excited crow(J of fine-looking men and women, copper- 
coloured, and possessed of the slightest possible amount 
of clothing, — the former boasting only a cloth tied around 
the head, while the latter had but a thin loose garment 
that seemed to gather around the throat and extended 
no farther than the knee. Some of the men were armed 
with bow and arrow, others with very serviceable-looking 
matchlocks; the women held various articles in their 
hands, probably for barter, and, as we pulled away after 
our narrow escape, they evinced their sorrow and desire 
to trade by loud cries and the most violent gestures. 
Our Chinese boy had almost fainted from fright as the 
inner boat backed into the surf in the attempt to land : 
he could only tremble and cry out, "Dey eat man! dey 
eat man!" His friends on the other side had evidently 
impressed him with that unpleasant national character- 
istic, and hence his fright when apparently about to be 
rolled helplessly to their feet by a boiling surf. 

The same day upon which we made this our last 
attempt to land among them, we steamed along up their 
coast, keeping as close as was prudent, — in fact closer, — 
and examining with our glasses as far back as we could 
see. In this way we saw small but apparently comfort- 
able stone houses, neatly-kept grounds, — what looked like 
fruitful gardens and green fields, — all being cultivated by 
" Chinese prisoners who had not yet been eaten," we were 
told on the other side ; or rather we were told that their 



WE ARRIVE AT THE LOO-CHOO ISLANDS. 179 

friends, when captured, were made to work until needed 
for culinary purposes. 

W"e were surprised at this air of comfort among half- 
naked savages, and could not but wonder how they could 
have built such nice-looking houses, until we finally con- 
cluded that their prisoners had been made to turn their 
hands to masonry as well as gardening. Thus ended our 
second and last visit to Formosa, and all that w^e learned 
in regard to it may be condensed into a few words, viz.: — 

We found it two hundred and five miles long by about 
sixty average width. It runs K. by E. and S. by W., has 
a range of mountains running along its entire east' coast, 
and is peopled by two different races of men, — Chinese 
and red men. The former possess the north and west 
side of the island, the latter the east and south, and they 
exist in a state of constant hostility. The country in the 
possession of the former is undulating or low, that of the 
latter rugged and mountainous. There are harbours on 
the north and west side, and none on the east. All else is 
conjecture. So much for Formosa and its mysterious red 
men. We continued our survey, and arrived at the port 
of ISTappa, island of Great Loo-choo, on the 9th of April. 
Neither the Vincennes or the Cooper had yet arrived. 



CHAPTER XI. 

SOMETHING ABOUT THE ANAEIRIMA GROUP OF ISLANDS, AND CLIMBING 
HILLS ALSO A WORD IN REGARD TO LOO-CHOOANS, AND TWO MIS- 
SIONARIES WHO RESIDED AMONG THEM, AND HOW IT WAS THAT WE 
LEFT LOO-CHOO AND ARRIVED IN JAPAN, 

We found considerable difficulty in working our way 
througli the sand-banks which guard the harbour of 
Nappa, as the pilots which Commodore Perry had made 
the Government promise to keep on the look-out did not 
approach us until we were near the anchorage. Then 
two of them boarded us, and begged by signs that we 
would not report their neglect to the authorities. We 
could not imagine for some time what caused them to be 
so much in earne'st : we were subsequently enlightened 
on the subject by a missionary. Let me make an extract 
from my journal in regard to our arrival at this place: — 

" At 4 P.M. we anchored in this harbour, — nine fathoms 
water and muddy bottom. McCuUom, the first lieutenant, 
was at once sent on shore to see the governor, present 
our compliments, and ask for a quantity of wood with 
which we purposed steaming while surveying a neigh- 
bouring group of islands. Our coal is already running 
short ; and, remembering how well we steamed with the 
wood obtained at Fou-chow-fou, we hope to use no more 
coal for some time. 

"McCullom had scarcely reached the beach when a 
180 



VALUE OF A SINGLE LETTEK. 181 

messenger arrived from fhe governor, bringing the card 
of his excellency and inquiring most affectionately after 
the health of the captain. This messenger's name was 
Nagador, ai^d he was a Loo-choo gentleman of the first 
water. His hearing was even courtly: he spoke in a low 
voice, almost a whisper, and possessed a singular air of 
good-breeding and cunning combined. Our decks were 
soon crowded by his suite, at least thirty or forty in num- 
ber, and not a word above a whisper from any one of 
them : had the same number of Chinese been on board 
one could not have heard himself speak. 

"I^agador spoke English well enough to make himself 
understood ; and there were several others who knew a 
few words. They had learned it from the missionaries. 
We find two of these latter here. One is a member of 
the Church of England, — an Englishman ; and the other 
a priest of that of Kome, — a French Jesuit. Singular to 
say, the latter is the last-comer in this case. They say 
they are treated kindly by the natives, but make few con- 
verts : time, they hope, will give them success. Those 
Loo-chooans who speak a little English pronounce it with 
more ease than any foreigners I ever saw. Unlike the Chi- 
nese, they pronounce the letter r without difficulty. I re- 
member once being put to the blush by a Chinese servant 
at Macao : he was handing around a dish of rice, and 
attracted my attention by a nudge of the elbow, and 
asking, 'You wanchy lice?' I did not eat any rice that 
day." 

I shall dwell lightly on Loo-choo. Commodore Perry's 
mammoth narrative leaves little to write about. I will 
only remark that they are a simple and inoffensive people, 



182 THE "fair sex" shun us. 

rather shy, extremely cringing in manner, and super- 
latively cunning. As far as my observation went, they 
have no arms of any description. In cuuning, however, 
they excel even the Japanese. We tried to get some 
fresh provisions, a few potatoes and chickens, from them, 
but failed most signally. They complained of poverty, 
drought, thick population, and finally let us sail with two 
goats which they presented to us. Some of the women 
are very pretty ; but, as they invariably ran, or turned 
their faces to the wall when too high to be climbed, 
we saw little but their backs. 

As soon as we had filled our bunkers and decks with 
wood, we steamed over to the Anakirima group of islands, 
— distant some twenty miles to the eastward of l^appa, — 
and spent two weeks in surveying them. During this 
time we were troubled more than ever with our leaking 
boilers, having often to keep the ship anchored several 
days after blowing the water out of them to let them get 
cool enough for workmen to enter : then, probably, im- 
mediately after getting steam up again, a new leak would 
show itself and the same work have to be repeated. This 
was very harassing to the men and detrimental to the 
survey ; but, like a great many other things, we had to 
get used to it, for it continued till the last day of the 
cruise. This group of islands having never before been 
even examined, I devote a few lines to them. Their cen- 
tral latitude is 26° 12' K, longitude 127° 14' E., and 
they are thinly populated by a lower order of Loo-chooans, 
while a few goats and deer range their rugged heights. 
The unpretending villages of these poor people are found 
in various seaside coves, or snugly stowed away in re- 




LOO-CHOO COUNTR Y-PEO PLE— {AN AKI RIM A GROUP.) 



THE ANAKIRIMA ISLANDS. 183 

treating ravines or concealed valleys, as if they were 
anxious to remove as far as possible from the observation 
of strangers. Their year is divided into the calm and 
windy seasons, and it was our fortune to visit them during 
the former. Like most of these islands, those of this 
group are of volcanic origin, and offer but slight promise 
of agricultural yield along their steep and bare or densely- 
wooded sides. Some of the valleys, however, grow fine 
rice, and a few of the slopes were planted in sweet potato. 
The largest of them is not more than three miles in length 
by a mile in breadth, and altogether they do not number 
over a dozen, including islets. Some of them rise to an 
elevation of several hundred feet, and abound with deadly 
snakes : more than once we made narrow escapes from 
their fangs while climbing the precipitous heights to 
obtain angles for the survey. It was any thing but 
pleasant to climb those hills — often on one's hands and 
knees — and to grasp a bunch of grass to secure your 
footing, while under the very next bunch you probably 
saw a snake coiled snugly away. Let me relate an adven- 
ture of this kind : it will give an idea of the scenes 
through which we passed while thus " surveying around 
the world." 

I turn to my journal for assistance: — 

"April 14. — I came unpleasantly near breaking my 
neck yesterday. McCullom, Carnes, and myself left the 
ship at an early hour to scale three heights where we 
were to measure base by sound and take a round of 
angles. Having landed at the foot of that which had 
been assigned me, and seen the boat hauled up above 
high-water mark, I left her in charge of three of the 



184 A TOUGH CLIMB. 

crew, and took the remainiiig two along to carry the spy- 
glass and a signal, I myself having a sextant-box under 
my arm, a revolver through my belt, and a pair of six- 
pound expedition-boots upon my heels. The revolver I 
carried because it was a standing order to go armed, and 
the boots I dragged along because the natives had warned 
us of the existence of snakes whose bite always put people 
to sleep, which latter we interpreted as meaning death. 

" Our road at first was quite navigable, — not that there 
was any road, but simply from the facts that the under- 
growth was not absolutely impassable, and that the moun- 
tain-side was sufficiently sloped to let one hold on without 
resorting to his hands. 

"At the end of a half-hour's tramp, however, things 
began to look different. "We were about half-way up the 
mountain, the thick undergrowth was rapidly giving 
place to rock, ravines, and spare patches of grass, and 
what earth there was was of that crumbling nature that 
makes a climber feel loell before he trusts his weight on 
the advancing foot. "We came to a halt, set our various 
burdens on the ground at our feet, drew a long breath, 
and commenced looking around. It was our first attempt 
at climbing for some months, and our knees already 
began to shake, while the upward prospect was more 
stupendous than ever. 

" 'How in the world are we ever to get up to the top of 
that peak ?' we asked ourselves, as the eye searched in 
vain for a favouring ridge or firmer foothold. 

" It was a hard question, — one that could only be an- 
swered by trial; and so we resumed our burdens and 
undertook its toilsome solution. 



HOW AVE PROGRESSED. 185 

" Anotlier half-hour passed, and we still gazed upward 
at the point of destination, and called another halt ; for 
the friendly hushes, whose iirmly-imhedded roots had 
heretofore offered a . secure hold for our unemployed 
hands, had now given place to thin clumps of grass, 
that a good jerk would pull out, roots and all. The 
earth, too, had hecome even more crumhling and un- 
reliable as we got higher, and the rocky ravines deeper 
and more frequent as well as more unsafe of approach. 
Again we continue the arduous ascent, and again call 
a halt from sheer fatigue. 'Sow, however, we no longer 
halted in company ; for I happened to he ahead when my 
knees failed, and the two men no sooner saw me down 
than they followed my example. It was now indeed 
difficult to see how we were to get along any farther ; 
nevertheless, as the entire work of the day would be 
injuriously affected did we give it up, I could not 
well avoid making another trial. At it we went, there- 
fore, with renewed vigour; and the way in which we 
progressed was after this wise : — 

" I, having been joined by Rose and Burke, left my box 
with them and climbed some feet higher, from whence 
I reached down for all the burdens, and, having de- 
posited them at my feet, climbed still higher, while 
Rose and Burke ascended to the place I had just left 
and passed them up to the new elevation. This was 
ticklish work, but it was also the best that we could do. 
I look back to it noiu, and think what a great booby I 
was. Then I regarded myself as a very energetic sur- 
veyor, generously risking my bones in the cause of 
science. 



186 AN UNPLEASANT SITUATION. 

"At last we could get 710 higher, and, what was worse, 
we began to think that we might find some difficult}^ in 
getting doion again. We couldn't well make up our 
minds, however, to remain all night upon the mountain's 
side, and so proceeded at once to make the attempt. I 
had often heard the expression, 'It is much easier to 
ascend than to descend a precipice,' and had frequently 
tested its truth in my own previous rambles ; but I had 
never before glanced around me and felt that there was 
a strong probability of my breaking my neck within the 
disagreeably-short space of ten minutes. 

" Each one now selected his own road down, — Burke 
throwing his burden ahead some hundred yards, and thus 
getting the use of both hands, while I was so unfortunate 
as to select the worst road that could have been found. 

" I thought that, with only one hand to steady myself, 
I should do better along the rocky edge of a neighbour- 
ing ravine; but, after some little time, the projecting 
footholds of rock became less frequent, and their places 
were taken up by the crumbling earth and loosely-rooted 
bunches of grass. Still, as there now remained but some 
eight or ten feet between me and a bed of rocks, from 
which the ground sloped off quite safely, I determined to 
trust to the light soil for a partial support to my foot, 
hoping to sustain much of my weight from a more 
healthy-looking bunch of grass, whose roots felt quite 
solid under the grasp. 

" It was a fatal mistake. 

" The earth gave way entirely under my cautious foot. 
I tried to recover myself when too late, and was left with 
my whole weight suspended from the grass. Should 



A DISAGREEABLE ALTERNATIVE. 187 

that also fail me I should slide helplessly into the 
rugged and apparently-fathomless fissure, which was 
now just midway between me and the bed of rocks, 
which formed one of its broken sides. There was no 
time to thmk, either, for at any moment the roots might 
draw, and then — what ? 

" The rocky bed already alluded to was now some four 
feet lower than my feet, and about five or six feet to 
the right. It was full of holes, and the sharp-pointed 
rocks peered up here and there through a rank under- 
growth in which a thousand snakes might have coiled 
themselves without being seen ; and, as we had already 
killed one most villanous-looking i^ascal while sunning 
himself in a similar locality, I shuddered at the idea of 
springing bodily over the yawning fissure into the un- 
inviting berth, whose only recommendation was that 
it was level, and whose drawbacks were so numerous. 
Besides, I was not certain but that I might fall short in 
my spring and drop into the fissure instead of upon its 
far edge; for, having no foothold to spring from, I 
should have to cast myself bodily from the side of the 
mountain by means of my elbows, chest, knees, and, 
subsequently, my hands and feet. It was about the 
tightest place that I can look back upon during that 
eventful cruise, and as I look back I shudder. 

"That bodily leap was a most disagreeable alternative; 
but I had either to accomplish it or finally slip, from 
sheer exhaustion or the uprooting of the grass, into the 
fissure that was under me. 

" My first thought was to tax the strength of the grass 
as little as possible ; and, to that end, I let the box slip 



188 AN INSANE QUESTION. 

from under my left arm, dug my elbows and knees into 
the soft earth, pressed my breast close to that of the 
mountain, and, feeling the friction thus created relieve 
my arm of considerable weight, began to think. 

" In the mean time, Rose and Burke were in a terrible 
state of excitement. The noise of the falling box 
caused them to look around and discover my almost- 
pendent position, while, from the nature of the ground, 
they felt totally unable to render me the slightest assist- 
ance. I do believe that their feelings were as unpleasant 
as my own, though probably a shade less vivid. Rose, 
seeing the utter hopelessness of effecting a rescue, re- 
solved himself into a fit of spasmodic suggestiveness, 
commencing his advice by cautioning me to 'hold on 
hard,' while Burke immediately commenced reclimbing 
to the scene of action, singing out, 'Stand by to jump, 
sir, if you slip,' — both of which admonitions only served 
to give me a darker idea of what was before, or rather 
under, me. 

" The fissure was at least three feet wide, and the 
pointed rocks upon which, if successful, I was to alight 
face first were any thing but inviting. I fancied, too, that 
every motion of the bushes that grew around them was 
caused b}' some alarmed reptile preparing to receive me, 
and shrank from the uncertain leap. Then at times I 
thought the grass was failing, and this would start the 
perspiration to my brow and cause a sickly shiver to 
pass through me, carrying with it half of my strength 
and courage. 

"About this time, Rose asked me if I couldn't jump 
between two of the bayonet-like rocks ; but I thought 



I AM HELPED TO JUMP. 189 

such, a feat extremely improbable, and continued my 
occupation of getting up a certain amount of friction 
between myself and the mountain. I hung in this way 
probably as much as a minute, listening to Rose's excited 
suggestions and feeling far from comfortable. I felt 
what was to be done, but revolted from the idea. The 
prospect of breaking several bones, of being run through 
the body by one of the 'bayonets,' or of alighting 
among several nests of snakes, was almost as bad as 
that held out by a pitch down the fissure. At last I 
was helped to action in a most unpleasant way. My 
right hand grasped the bunch of grass, and before making 
the leap I must take it in my left, as the fissure was to 
my right. Cautiously I commenced the exchange, watch- 
ing the straining fibres with an anxious eye, and keep- 
ing my muscles braced for the jump should they fail me 
before I was ready. 

" Just then I caught the sullen glare of two other eyes, 
— sullen and leaden, and yet bright and sparkling also 
with alarmed rage. They belonged to the flattened head 
of an ugly-looking snake, whose sinuous body and up-* 
lifted front indicated an active readiness for either flight 
or attack. 

" I gazed and shuddered. I shudder now as the mind's 
eye returns to those flaming specks of rage which flashed 
their angry light within a foot of my nerveless hand. I 
looked back to the commencement of time, and read 
the truth of Holy "Writ in their expression of deadly 
hostility : — 'And I will put enmity between thee and the 
woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall 
bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.' After 



190 aREAT ABUNDANCE OF ANTELOPE. 

a lifetime of hesitation and unbelief, I ceased to hesitate, 
and believed that God was God and that I was but dust. 
The prayer of extreme peril, 'Lord, have mercy upon 
me, a miserable sinner,' struggled in my troubled heart 
and nerved me to the desperate leap. 

" It was over. The very edge of the fissure received 
me on its shelving side, bruised, panting, weak as an 
infant, and yet with whole bones and safety. It seemed 
a^ if the strength of a dozen men had rushed through 
my frame and thrown me bodily from the glaring eyes 
of that lifted crest, leaving me with the cold drops upon 
my brow and a sickening feeling of overtaxed muscle 
throughout my limbs. 

"Slowly I regained my feet, rubbed my bruised side 
with half-numbed hands, looked back for the now- 
absent snake, and at the friendly clump of grass, whose 
torn and drooping blades gave ample proof of the service 
they had rendered ; and, as I picked my way through 
the 'bayonets' and thick undergrowth, silently vowed 
never again to volunteer for an exploring and surveying 
expedition round the world." 

This and similar scenes were alarming drawbacks to 
our pleasure while surveying the Anakirima group ; but 
there were also others of a repaying nature. One day, 
for instance, we came to an island where several of us 
had fine sport shooting antelope while wood was being 
taken in at an opposite village. Old bust-proof and 
his master went into ecstasies over the abundance of 
game, and slew them right and left. We killed some- 
thing like a dozen, and then learned that they were the 



A LOO-CHOO STAMPEDE. 191 

property of the Regent of Loo-choo, the offspring of 
parents that had been imported from China and put 
upon that and another island to breed. Having ended 
our work, we returned to Nappa, where we found the 
Vincennes and Cooper, and where we offered to pay 
for the slain deer; but they refused, though we subse- 
quently had good reason to suppose that they charged 
for them in our wood-bill. 

We now commenced to get in another supply of wood 
for the continuation of our voyage; and, as the Loo- 
chooans sent it off very slowly, we found ourselves 
masters of more spare time than the most sanguine had 
hoped for. We took advantage of these idle days to 
roam through IsTappa and the surrounding country, and 
it was almost painful to see how the people shunned us. 
It was only those who lived near the water, or who had 
been thrown in contact with foreigners, that did not fly 
from us as if we had been evil spirits. 

Upon one occasion we were following a winding street, 
which brought us suddenly out upon the plaza, or market- 
place, of ISTappa; and such a stampede as ensued I never 
before witnessed. The plaza .probably covered a space 
of two acres, and it was crowded with country-people, 
their packhorses, truck-carts, and articles which they 
had brought in for sale. The citizens of all ages and 
sexes were there also, making their purchases in their 
usual noiseless manner, and apparently wrapped up in 
their bargains. Suddenly a confused feeling of alarm 
pervaded the whole square: strangers had appeared 
among them. Those who were near the opening of 
the street down which we came rushed pellmell from 



192 AN ALARMED SPECIMEN OF ANTIQUITY. 

US on either side, just as a crowd makes a passage for 
a mad bull. They left most of their things behind, 
though there was one fellow who took time to sling 
a pig over his shoulders, and one tall, finely-formed 
woman who gathered up her bundle of rice and walked 
off with majestic dignity. Those who were more distant 
from u« mostly disappeared down neighbouring streets 
or into friendly houses, though there were some who 
had the courage to remain to pack their wares hurriedly 
before flight. The cattle, too, became alarmed at the 
general commotion, and added their antics to the con- 
fusion of the scene. I never before saw such a state of 
"undecided alarm." 

Being unwilling to cause any more inconvenience than 
they had already subjected themselves to, we stood per- 
fectly still and called out the names of several of their 
officials, hoping that the familiar sounds would quiet 
their fears and cause them to return to their property. 
In this we were eminently successful, and we soon had 
the pleasure of walking among them, though it was 
still impossible to gaze at any but an averted face. 

Upon another of these occasions, when we had lost our 
way among the crooked, alley-like streets of i^appa, we 
more than once found said streets ending in private 
houses, to the infinite terror of their half-clad occupants; 
and before we had worked our way out of the labyrinth 
we nearly frightened to death two "unprotected females" 
whose fortune threw them in our path. One of these — a 
very old and decrepit specimen, apparently — we encoun- 
tered suddenly upon turning a corner, and so startled her 
that she coul-d only gaze at us in stupid wonder until we 





•—_ 


:: 


1 


X^ 


s 


6*' >, 










, 




THEY ARE ALARMED AT OUR APPROACf 




GOING TO PAY A VISIT. 



HOW A COTTON WRAPPER BECAME VIVIFIED. 193 

had passed her, when she gave a scream aud took to 
flight with unlooked-for activity. 

The other was "a young lady of sweet sixteen," and 
she came gayly around another corner just as the old 
woman was disappearing behind the one we had passed. 
Her apparel was remarkable for its extreme simplicity 
and uncleanliness, and she no sooner saw us than she 
turned her face to the wall, — which was inconveniently 
high to leap, — and, trembling like the restless leaf of the 
poetical aspen, allowed us to pass without even deigning a 
smile. Then, as soon as we were beyond her she followed 
the old woman's example, being suddenly transformed, 
from a shrinking figure of fear, into a flying mass com- 
posed of a thin cotton wrapper, a pair of arms and legs, 
and a head of dishevelled, jet-black hair. 

Finally we emerged from the city into the outskirts, 
then into the by-paths of the fields, where we met with a 
Loo-choo gentleman and his servant upon their way, as 
we subsequently inferred, to spend the day with a friend. 
The boy carried his master's " chowchow-box" which 
contained his dinner, said, &c., as it is the fashion in Loo- 
choo for the guests to carry their meals along. This 
gentleman directed us by the shortest cut to the high- 
road to the capital city of Shudi, which we were in search 
of, and at the end of an hour's walk we found ourselves 
entering under the heavy archway which is stretched 
across the road at the edge of the city, though there are 
no gates to close, and no walls extending from it to be 
defended. It looks more like a consular triumphal arch 
than any thing else. We had now walked some four 
miles over a road some forty feet broad, which was 

13 



194 WE VISIT SHUDI. 

paved, like most of our streets, with round stones, and 
lined on both sides by grassy sidewalks. During this 
time we passed many of the country-people, similar in ap- 
pearance to those on the opposite page, most of whom 
would drop their bundles and run from us, though there 
were some who had the boldness to pass us with bent 
forms and eyes resting on the ground. Some there were, 
too, of the higher classes, who encountered us as con- 
fidently as anybody ; but these were mostly the officials 
who had mixed with Perry's squadron and become recon- 
ciled to the sight of strangers. We spent several hours 
walking through Shudi, but derived not the slightest 
benefit from it, as we could no sooner enter a crowded 
street than the alarm would spread like wildfire, and in 
the snap of one's finger it would be empty and the doors 
of every house strongly barred. Finally we arrived at a 
huge pile of gray granite, that reminded us strongly of 
the feudal castles of old. It was surrounded by a heavy 
stone wall that was thirty or forty feet high in some 
places and had but one gate, — that we could see. Through 
this gate we looked, and saw a number of officials loung- 
ing around the grounds with fans in their hands, and 
looking altogether quite comfortable ; but, though we 
looked longingly through the bars, and resorted to various 
ingenious devices to attract their attention, we failed in 
our object, and returned slowly to the ship, rather dis- 
gusted than otherwise with our visit. 

Our reduced squadron now began to show the efiects 
of hard work and heavy weather. The ships looked 
rusty, our boats were bruised and battered, and we our- 
selves looked miserably seedy and overworked. "We 




THE OFFICIALS OF THE TEMPLE. 



MAGNIFICENT HAKBOURS. 195 

kept up the flagging spirits of the men by reminding 
them of the extra compensation which we had been 
assured Congress would grant us, and again put to sea. 

We were now bound for Ha-ko-da-di, Japanese island 
of Jesso, and the Cooper was to survey the west coast of 
the great island of ISTipon, while the Vincennes and Han- 
cock, pursuing different routes in order to cover as much 
space as possible, were to attend to every thing to the 
eastward. The two latter vessels were also to touch at 
Si-mo-da, east coast of Nipon ; and, before reaching that 
half-sheltered port, we surveyed a number of islands 
hitherto unexplored, and lying in the path from California 
to China. As we worked our way slowly through those 
unknown lands to the northward, we passed one active 
and several extinct volcanoes, and finally arrived at 
Ousima or Preble's Island. The Vincennes had examined 
the east coast of this island during her cruise of the pre- 
vious year, and found it, like that of Formosa, totally 
wanting in harbours of any kind. It was now reserved 
for the two ships in company to encounter a succession 
of the most magnificent ports of shelter as they surveyed 
along its west coast. 

One of these, situated upon the northwest extreme of 
the island, is well worth}^ of a passing notice. In the 
first place, it is undoubtedly the most sheltered anchorage 
in the world; secondly, it is the most convenient locality 
for a coal-depot, should steamers ever run from California 
to China ; and, thirdly, it is the dividing- line between 
the Loo-choo and Japanese islands. There we found 
both of these people, the former on the southern shore of 
the double harbour, and the latter on its northern, — the 



196 MAMMOTH RASPBERRIES. 

former receiving us with fear and trembling, tlie latter 
with suspicion and distrust. Upon visiting the former, 
we were timidly asked, through our interpreter, " Why 
have you arrived at our small island?" and upon landing 
among the latter we were obliged to intimate our readi- 
ness for fighting before they would get out of our way 
and let us ascend a neighbouring peak with a theodolite. 
Here we found fresh supplies of a magnificent raspberry, 
similar to some we had encountered at the Anakirima 
Islands, and which I neglected to speak of while writing 
about that group. They were of two dififerent species, 
one of a brown colour and as large as a small apricot, 
the other yellow and about the size of a Malaga grape. 
The former grew on a vine that ran along the ground or 
twined itself around bushes ; while the latter hung in 
clusters from small bushes that generally stood off by 
themselves. The leaf of the larger was often from seven 
to eight inches in diameter, and one which I brought 
home with me is always mistaken for that of the grape. 
"We gathered quantities of these berries; and — as we had 
previously failed to get fresh provisions from the Loo- 
chooans, and subsequently failed to do so from the 
Japanese, in spite of Commodore Perry's much-talked- 
of treaty — I have no doubt that they warded ofi" the 
scurvy from us for months. The latitude of the splendid 
harbour around Avhich these berries grew is 28° 30' 1^., 
its longitude 129° 32' E., and it must eventually become 
a place of importance. 

Leaving this quiet retreat, we once more put to sea and 
continued the survey, by separate routes, to Si-mo-da; 
arrived oft" which port, we sighted a vessel entering ahead 



WE AERIVE AT SI-MO-DA. 197 

of US, which our glasses proved to be the Vincennes. 
"We had expected to arrive some clays before her, but the 
"old John" had had to contend against headwinds, and 
had, as usual, drifted to leeward. Poor "old John"! 

The Vincennes anchored in the mouth of the unpro- 
tected harbour ; and, as we passed her at the astonishing 
r^te of six knots, and answered the hail of Commander 
Rodgers as to the health of the ship, &;c., we noticed a 
Whitehall row-boat towing at her stern, and several 
strangers in European costume mixed among the officers 
and assisting them to admire (?) the graceful outlines and 
killing pace of our poor old tub of a steamer. 

As we rounded to and let go our anchor well in with 
the shore, we wondered what that clean-looking White- 
hall boat was doing in Japan, and who those admiring 
strangers could be ; and in regard to these two wonders 
our minds were soon set at rest. 

Scarcely was the anchor down than they came along- 
side in the Vincennes' gig, and, a barge-load of Japanese 
officials boarding us at the same time, our hands were 
filled so far as entertaining was concerned. We imme- 
diately took the combined party down into the ward-room 
and began to find out who the former were, while the 
latter, with their usual prying policy, began to try to 
ascertain why we had visited their unfrequented shores. 

Our "admiring strangers" proved to be Americans of 
the nomadic stamp, who had lately arrived from the 
Sandwich Islands with an assorted cargo destined to 
meet the wants of whaling-vessels, and who, upon the 
discharging of their vessel, were to have reloaded her 
with Japanese goods and sent her to San Francisco, 



198 AMERICANS IN JAPAN. 

while they themselves remained in Japan with their 
embryo ship-chandlery. 

Their party numbered nine in all : — Mr. and Mrs. Reed 
and two children, Mr. and Mrs. Doty, and Messrs. Edger- 
ton, Bridleman, and Peabody. They were at present 
living in a temple on shore, and invited us to make their 
quarters our lounging-place. 

The manner in which they came into possession of this 
temple — in fact, the only reason why they were allowed to 
land at all — is worthy of note, more especially as a very 
wrong conclusion is jumped at on page 454 of the other- 
wise very truthful work resulting from the labours of 
the squadron under Commodore M. C. Perry. Before 
noticing this wrong conclusion, I will make a simple 
statement of the manner in which they awoke one fine 
morning and found themselves temporary residents of 
Japan. Commodore Perry's treaty had nothing whatever 
to do with it. 

Shortly previous to their arrival, the Russian frigate 
Diana had been seriously injured by an earthquake while 
at anchor in the harbour of Si-mo-da, and had subse- 
quently foundered while being towed to the more pro- 
tected port of Hey-da for repairs ; and her crew, being thus 
left upon the hands of the Japanese, — who feared an armed 
body of five hundred men, — were necessarily compelled 
to have quarters assigned them, and provisions furnished, 
until such time as a ship should arrive to take them 
away. 

A large temple at Kaga-zaki (a small village of some 
hundred and fifty houses near the mouth of the harbour) 
was therefore placed at their disposal, which, subjected to 



A WRONG CONCLUSION OF COMMODORE PERRY'S. 199 

a few alterations, made tlieni a most comfortable resi- 
dence ; and they were still lounging through its roomy 
saloons and passages when our admiring strangers ar- 
rived, and were, to their surprise, boarded by a Russian 
officer instead of a host of Japanese officials. l!^ow, these 
Russians had saved their small-arms, &c., as well as their 
lives, when their frigate went down, and, being several 
hundred in number, were a source of constant dread to 
their usually-tyrannical but now obsequious hosts, who 
no sooner saw the arrival of a vessel than they advo- 
cated the idea of their taking passage in her away from 
Jajpan. 

As she was not large enough, however, to take them 
all at once, it was determined to let all of her passengers 
and cargo be landed, toward the simple end of obtaining 
more room in which to stow a greater number of the 
obnoxious Russians; and it was further determined that, 
as long as their schooner was employed in the transporta- 
tion of said Russians, they, the Americans, should have 
the free use of the temple with and after the Russians, 
and be further granted a house in which to store their 
cargo. Upon the return of their schooner after her last 
load — L e. after she had done Japan the service to rid her 
of her unwelcome guests — they were to restow their cargo, 
and take themselves off, with any Japanese goods which 
they might be able to sell them. And this is a correct 
account of the manner in which Americans first resided 
temporarily in Japan ; although, as I have previously 
said, one would arrive at a far different conclusion from 
reading Perry's comments on the subject. In regard to 
this treaty I have to add another Avord : — it grants much 



200 RUSSIAN GRATITUDE AND PRENCH PUNCH. 

more than even the most sanguine mind had reason to 
expect; and yet, from the utter faithlessness of the Ja- 
panese themselves, many of its articles are rendered null 
and void. The commodore will have to be sent back 
with a moderate force and full powers, and not with an 
overwhelming squadron and his hands tied with Govern- 
ment tape. 

And now let us return to our mess-room, where the 
Japanese, the nomadics, a Russian oJ0B.cer, and "the 
mess," Avere opening bottles of French punch, to the 
especial delight of the former. 

The Russian just spoken of had been left in charge of 
the temple with several men, when his companions had 
retired to the more secluded port of Hey-da, to avoid 
being discovered by the English and French cruisers, and 
he was now almost as delighted to see us as were the 
Americans themselves. He spoke with great feeling of 
the kindness of the officers of the U. S. steamer Pow- 
hatan to his shipwrecked companions, in giving them 
clothes and provisions, and finally became so affected by 
the combination of Russian gratitude and French punch 
that he threw his arms round Carnes, the master, de- 
claring, in broken accents, that "he never before saw 
such fine sailor-men, and that we must come on shore to 
his house at once." 

This specimen of fraternizing was not lost on the 
Japanese portion of the assembly, who, having drunk at 
least double as much as any one else, were quite pre- 
pared to take advantage of any such demonstration to 
relax their sober countenances and assume a "hail- 
fellow-well-met" style of demeanour, more in keeping 



THE FINEST SWORDS IN THE WORLD. 201 

witli the occasion. When they had first drawn np 
around the table, (with the dignity of gentlemen, it must 
be confessed,) we had intimated, by unmistakable signs, 
our desires to see their swords, of the beautiful polish 
and temper of which we had heard so much, and they 
had universally refused to draw them, expressing their 
surprise and wonder in horrified glances and mysterious 
shakings of the head. ISTow, however, they readily gave 
them into our charge, making signs that they could not 
eat and drink with comfort while bothered with them, 
and pointing to the state-rooms as places of safety where 
they might be laid. Of course we went into those state- 
rooms, and with closed doors examined their beautiful 
workmanship and temper to our hearts' content. 

"I'll tell you what it is!" said the Russian, as he 
watched with reluctant gaze the rapid inroads which 
they made in the precious punch : " these fellows talk 
very smoothly now, and promise you every thing you ask 
for; but wait until the time comes to fulfil their promises 
and see how they will act. The only way our admiral 
could get along with them was by getting the men under 
arms and threatening to march them upon Yeddo when- 
ever they promised without acting ; and, if you ever ex- 
pect them to bring you half the provisions they have put 
on that list, your commodore will have to do the same 
thing." 

And he was right ; for, as long as we were in Japan, 
we could never succeed in getting any thing but a few 
eggs, now and then a tough chicken, and occasionally a 
quart or two of fresh beans. Rice, soya, and saki were 
the only three articles they ever furnished in abundance. 



202 WE RECEIVE PERMISSION TO GO ON SHORE. 

Tatz-nosky, the interpreter, who was seated directly 
opposite to our Russian friend while he thus belaboured 
his nation, and who understood probably about one-half 
of what was said, took it all in good part, but, as the 
party was breaking up, revenged himself by whispering, 
in a confidential manner, "Russe no good! Ameliken 
ver^ goodV After which he and his companions took 
their departure amidst most energetic protestations of 
regard and friendship. The last thing Tatz-nosky did 
was to tell us that the governor had given us permission 
to go on shore for a little while, but that we must not 
ramble far, — a piece of information that so annoyed the 
captain, that he called him back and indulged in an im- 
promptu speech to the following effect : — 

" Commodore Perry had made a treaty with Japan, 
and we had a copy of it on board for our guidance. 
That treaty granted us the privilege of going on 
shore when it suited us ; and, though we fully appre- 
ciated the attention of the governor in noticing our 
arrival, still, we could not look to him to regulate our 
movements," &c. &c. 

Tatz-nosky understood enough of this very proper 
speech to show him that we were conscious of our rights 
and determined to exact them, but whether it ever 
reached the ears of the governor it is hard to say. 




V '•>*^'».V.!4-v,.WOVi5>. 



THE PRETTY GIRLS WHO WELCOMED US. 



CHAPTER XII. 

•WE LAND IN JAPAN, AND VISIT A NUMBER OP AMEEICANS AND ONE ECS- 
SIAN — "MAHOMET AND THE MOUNTAIN" DIFrER AS TO THE MOST PLEA- 
SANT DIRECTION FOR A STROLL, AND FINALLY PART COMPANY, TO THE 
EVIDENT ANNOYANCE OF THE LATTER. 

And now we were in Japan, among the mysterious 
people wlio for the last three hundred years had amused 
themselves by tying and otherwise harshly treating all 
shipwrecked mariners of whatever nation, and with whom 
the world was now beginning to renew its acquaintance 
after an isolation of centuries. It was a thrilling thought 
— the very idea of landing among them; and, although 
it was rainiug when our guests of the last chapter left, 
several of us armed ourselves with umbrellas and took a 
boat for the beach. We landed between Ka-ga-sa-ki and 
the sea, and followed the beach until we reached the out- 
skirts of the former, when we began to be struck by the 
great number "of children and pretty girls that came for- 
ward to welcome us. They seemed quite anxious to see 
strangers, coming out of their houses, and lining our 
path with their fancifully-painted umbrellas overhead 
and their awkward stilt-like sandals underfoot. There 
was considerable pertness, too, as well as curiosity, in their 
glances, but as a general rule their bearing was marked 
by any thing but boldness. The people of this particular 
locality had seen so much of our countrymen, and appa- 

203**^ 



204 HOW WE CONVERSE. 

rently formed so favourable an idea of tliem during the 
two visits of Commodore Perry, that they now viewed us 
without fear: indeed, to have heard their questions and 
seen their pantomime, one would have imagined that the 
majority of them had been personally acquainted with the 
worthy commodore. They would pronounce his name 
quite plainly, (Comdo Pelly,) and ask us, by signs, if we 
had ever seen him, giving us to understand, in return, that 
they regarded him as a very powerful personage. Even 
the little children had now become reconciled to us, 
(through associations with members of his squadron, 
w^e inferred,) and approached us with perfect confidence. 
They would collect from all directions, as we passed, 
hold out their hands with the salutation, " How do you 
do?" or, "Ohio!" and, if noticed by a good-natured 
shake, would retire among their less adventurous com- 
panions with the steps of young heroes. They also, in 
many cases, evinced the utmost eagerness to pick up a 
few words of our language. 

One little fellow I remember in particular, who learned 
to count as high as ten in as many minutes ; and the next 
day I found him on the sandy beach with a sharp stick, 
with which he w^as tracing 1, 2, 3, &c. as readily and accu- 
rately as many thick-headed school-boys after a month of 
daily drubbings. He held in his left hand a slip of paper 
on which I had written him the numbers on the previous 
evening, and, recognising me as soon as I approached, 
made signs that he had no longer any use for those, and 
wanted me to put down some more. I looked at his 
childish frame and bright, sparkling eyes, and began to 
conceive a high idea of Japanese brains. It is needless 



THE PORTAL OF THE TEMPLE. 205 

to add tliat myself and friend seated ourselves on a piece 
of ship-timber, and wrote him down the numbers ad in- 
finitum, which he had no sooner received (the lead-pencil 
being added, to his lively joy) than he commenced count- 
ing on his fingers as high as each number, when, as we 
bent our heads in assent, he put the Japanese character 
opposite to each, and, the whole being translated in that 
way, he smoothed oiF a place on the beach, and went to 
work with his sharp stick and a will that caused me to 
look back to my own truant-playing days and blush. 
But all this has nothing to do with the visit which we 
went on shore to pay. 

A walk of some ten or fifteen minutes through the two 
rows of houses that lined the beach brought us quite 
unexpectedly in front of a large wooden structure, to 
which several of the crowd that followed us pointed with 
the explanatory exclamation of "Eoos!" "Roos!" which 
we took to imply that it was the quarters of the Russians, 
and that it would be but polite in us to stop and pay them 
a visit. As we had gone on shore for that purpose, we 
took their advice and turned at right angles into the 
broad and shady avenue, which, after a length of some 
fifty or sixty yards, terminated at the foot of a massive 
flight of stone steps, at the top of which was an equally 
massive-looking portal, guarded on either hand by an 
unknown monster of frightful exterior, carved out of 
wood, and most fancifully painted. 

We passed between these fierce-looking unknowns, 
and entered upon a square and level space of something 
like an acre in extent, from the back of which the 
thickly-wooded hill-side arose, while in the centre was 



206 A JAPANESE GRAVEYARD. 

built the temple. Between this latter and the hill-side — 
in fact, extending up into the bushes — was a Japanese 
graveyard, — a most singular-looking graveyard to stranger 
eyes, and yet incapable of being mistaken for any thing 
else. 

It was laid out in walks and beds something after the 
fashion of a flower-garden, and contained thousands .and 
thousands of small stone images that varied in size from 
six inches to two or three feet. These were arranged 
about in spots without much regard to the beauty of 
effect, being piled together like so many bricks, or scat- 
tered about in the most convenient corners and crevices. 
Some I even saw stuck up in the spreading branches of 
the trees, and others again that, having been put at the 
foot of a tree between two roots, the latter had grown 
around them and rendered their removal no longer pos- 
sible. "We were given to understand, by one Japanese, 
that these images contain the ashes of defunct officers ; 
and, by another, that they were intended simply as tomb- 
stones to mark where the ashes had been laid. And this 
latter authority I rather incline to, though it is dangerous 
to believe any thing that a two-sworded Japanese tells 
you. 

As we entered upon the cleanly-swept space in front 
of the temple and looked around us, we saw a dozen or 
more of these two-sworded gentry lounging about the 
yard, while a number of others were engaged with their 
pipes in the spy-house. These latter were the superiors, 
who, in that dreamy state of enjoyment, awaited the fre- 
quent reports that were brought to them by the former in 
regard to every movement of the occupants of the temple. 



HOW WE ARE COUNTED. 207 

These informers no sooner saw us all inside of the gate, 
than they made a note of our number with their paint- 
brush-like pencils, and, as we were received on the steps 
of the temple by the Americans and him who "had 
never before seen such fine sailor-men," we saw them 
sink upon their knees and hand their slips of paper to 
the lazy smokers of the spy-house. 

"You see they have counted you already," said one of 
our hosts, as he welcomed us to the immense mansion ; 
"and when you go away the same thing will be done 
over again. From the moment you enter their ports, 
they station boats to watch your ships. "When you leave 
your ships, you are counted and watched. When you 
land, you are followed ; and when you return on board, 
you are again counted to see that there are none left on 
shore. If a less number return than landed, a search is 
at once got under way and the missing ones are always 
found. We sometimes amused ourselves by passing, like 
the Frenchman's cat, ^incessantly ins and outs of ze cat- 
hole,' (a gate in our case,) thus causing these sentries 
to keep up a perfect stream of reports. They couldn't 
understand it at first, but after a while smelt a rat, and 
contented themselves with reporting only about every ten 
minutes. The children used to bafile them considerably 
also, for in their childish sports they would often get 
beyond the grounds of the temple and mix with the 
Japanese of their own age, much to the annoyance of 
the officers." 

By this time we were seated in a large and spacious 
room, one of whose windows looked out upon several 
fresh-looking monuments that lifted themselves from a 



208 ONLY TWO SHORT YEARS. 

slight elevation on our left, while the others opened into 
the grand hall of the temple. 

"Well, it is singular!" exclaimed one of the party, as 
he gazed through the former upon the civilized-looking 
monuments. "Look here at these granite monuments, 
with their emblems chiselled upon them, and the fel- 
low's history cut in, exactly where with us would be put 
' Sacred to the memory,' &c. They look exactly like the 
monuments you would see in any Christian graveyard. 
I thought the Japanese burned their dead and stowed 
the ashes away in jars?" 

"So they do, as a general rule," remarked the Russian. 
"But these are not Japanese monuments that you see 
there. Four of Commodore Perry's men and one of his 
officers are buried under them. The monuments them- 
selves were made by Japanese, from drawings by Ame- 
ricans." 

— "I>o you remember what the name of the officer was?" 
asked an interested voice. 

"Hamilton, — Dr. James Hamilton," was the careless 
reply. 

I looked back to the jovial mess-room of the Kennedy, 
(only two short years,) and, as my eye rested on the 
glorious hearts that then beat around our social board, I 
felt it dim and moisten over the memory of more than 
one that was now pulseless and cold. Hardships and dis- 
ease, combined with the destroying breath of the uncurbed 
typhoon, had even then sadly thinned our ranks. One 
slept his noiseless sleep among the unknown depths of 
the coral sea, and now the lasting monument of another, 
towering over the Buddhist images, proclaimed on its face 



THE RUSSIAN PROVES A TRUE PROPHET. 209 

a gospel truth, — strange words to be seen in that infidel 
land. 

" Poor Hamilton !" said one pensive voice. The others 
passed lightly on to other subjects; and, as night ap- 
proached, we took our leave and returned on board, 
several two-sworded officials attending us to the beach. 
Thus ended our first day in Japan. 

"We awoke the next morning with the very reasonable 
hope of having a fresh breakfast, — soft-boiled eggs, a 
broiled chicken,, or something of that sort ; but there was 
no such good fortune in store for us. TVe ate our usual sea- 
breakfast, and then began to abuse Tatz-nosky. " Well, 
you may abuse him as much as you choose," said Cavi- 
losk}'-, our Russian friend, who came on board just at the 
time : " did I not tell you yesterday that they would bring 
you nothing?" The Russian was. right; for, during the 
several months that we were in or about Japan, we never 
once received fresh provisions for the crew, and only 
rarely a stray chicken or a duck for ourselves. Rice, 
soya, (a very fine fish-sauce,) and saki, (a strong and not 
unpleasant liquor made from rice,) were the only things 
they ever furnished us in abundance ; and, had it not 
been for the former of these, we should have been in a 
starving condition. 

Upon one occasion we saw several hundred chickens 

in a bamboo pen in the very centre of Si-mo-da; but, 

before we could find the proper person to order some 

sent on board, they had disappeared. Upon complaining 

of this to Tatz-nosky, his excuse was that they had been 

previously sold, but that we should certainly have some 

before long. This indefinite date never arrived. Upon 

14 



210 WE AKE OFFEEED A HORSE FOR BEEF. 

anotlaer occasion Ave saw dozens of the finest bullocks 
ranging the neighbouring hills, and, when we wanted to 
buy some of them, were informed that they were used as 
beasts of burden, but that if we wanted a horse we could 
have one. 

We had not been many hours in Si-mo-da, when Com- 
mander Rodgers was applied to by the "nomadics" to 
force the Japanese to respect a certain article of Com- 
modore Perry's late treaty ; but that officer very properly 
regarded the disputed point as a question for future dis- 
cussion between the two Governments, and contented 
himself with making an official appeal in their behalf. 
The result of this was that the nomadics were informed 
that the treaty-phrase "temporary residence" was under- 
stood to mean a day's stroll through the city or into the 
country, and that they could never be allowed to settle in 
any part of Japan. They therefore got on board of their 
schooner when she returned, and sailed to Ha-ko-da-di, 
where, meeting a similar refusal, they returned to San 
Francisco in very high and just dudgeon. But I am 
getting ahead of my narrative. 

Finding that we were unable to buy beef and vege- 
tables, we turned our attention to articles of Japanese 
manufacture, such as china, lacquer-ware, &c. ; and, having 
exacted a promise that a bazaar should be got up for us 
as soon as possible, we sat down patiently to await its 
fulfilment. In the mean time we surveyed the harbour 
and adjoining coasts; which accomplished, we resorted 
to daily walks into the interior as the most profitable wa}' 
of passing the time. We were much annoyed during 
our first walks by the Japanese officials, who, after drink- 



MOEE ■" TIGHTLY-ENCASED SMALL BOYS." 211 

ing all of our French punch on board ship, would en- 
counter us on shore and dog our steps to prevent our 
communicating too freely with the country-people. Let 
me recall one of these walks : — 

It was upon a clear and cool morning, that ushered 
in a warm day; and the hour was sunrise. Lawton, 
our chief engineer, Bridleman, one of the nomadics, 
and myself, stepped into the dingy and pulled for the 
upper landing upon the edge of Si-mo-da. The reader 
probably remembers the word " dingy." It is the name of 
a boat, — -just such another small boat, pulled by two other 
similarly-encased small boys, as carried old bust-proof, 
his master, and myself on shore at Simon's Town to 
frighten Hottentot women and startle catbirds. In the 
present case we were pulling leisurely over smooth water, 
however, and the trousers "held their own" bravel}'. 
We were armed for a long tramp, — very large walking- 
sticks, heavy expedition-boots, &c. &c. ; and, in addition, 
we carried concealed revolvers for defence, and our 
watches, to excite curiosity in the country-people. 
Finally, we had a very poor idea of where we were going 
or what we were going to do. 

"Let's just start directly back into the country," said 
Lawton, "walk right straight ahead until twelve o'clock, 
then eat our lunch alongside of some romantic stream, 
throw the crumbs to the fish, and return by a new road. 
If we do lose our way and have to sleep among the Ja- 
panese, why, we'll at any rate do what no untied foreigner 
has done for centuries." 

"I think I'd rather sleep in my bunk," I said, "unless. 



212 THE KESULT OF AN APPEAL. 

indeed, we could cany a tent with us and go upon a regu- 
lar voyage of discovery for a week." 

"That's a good idea," said Bridleman ; "but, as we are 
now half-way on shore, we'd better put it off to another 
day." 

The boat here ranged up to the rocky and picturesque 
landing, and we stepped ashore under the heavy foliage 
of unknown trees, and wended our interesting path be- 
tween their sturdy, live-oak-like trunks and under their 
sheltering arms. It was the third time we had been on 
shore in Si-mo-da; but we could not tire of that shady 
walk or of looking around every bush and corner for 
something new. The reflection that we were among a 
people who for hundreds of years had existed entirely 
among themselves lent an interest to every object that 
crossed our path, and caused the blood to flow through 
our veins with the nervous excitement of intense curi- 
osity. 

The first object of note that we passed was a Govern- 
ment spy-house, — a small bamboo building, — which had 
been erected near the landing, since our arrival, for the 
express purpose of enabling the Government spies, who 
occupied it, to note every American who came on shore 
and cause him to be followed or watched by one or more 
of their number. We had, upon both of our previous 
visits, been excessively annoyed by these spies, and had 
complained to the governor of being thus watched ; but 
he excused his Government with the barefaced assertion 
that "they were sent along with us to keep us from get- 
ting lost, and not as spies upon our movements," adding 
that "if we did not want them we had only to send them 




•nil >v Aii*IP""''^ 



MAHOMET AND THE MOUNTAIN. 213 

away." TMs was all very fair, apparently, but when we 
had " sent them away" they wouldn't go, — affecting not to 
understand us ; and so this time we had gone on shore 
determined to give the first fellow who couldn't under- 
stand our signs to return, a good kicking, and, if neces- 
sary, a thumping besides. The opportunity for resorting 
to this practical mode of explanation soon presented itself. 

"We had not passed the spy-house more than a hundred 
yards, when a couple of two-sworded officers were ob- 
served to be following ns, and before walking another 
hundred they were within speaking-distance. We 
stopped to let them come up, but they also came to a 
halt : it was evidently a case of " Mahomet and the 
mountain," and so Mahomet boldly returned to the 
mountain. 

This action on the part of the prophet was evidently 
regarded in a threatening light by the two who composed 
the mountain: they looked just like over-curious ser- 
vants detected by their master in the act of eavesdrop- 
ping. 

Mahomet took half of the mountain by the shoulders, 
caused him to "right-about face," and then made signs 
that we were going north, and that they, the mountain, 
were expected to move off in a southerly direction. This 
they "couldn't understand" through the medium of the 
senses of sight and hearing, and so Mahomet resorted to 
his heavy boot and the half-mountain's sense of feeling. 
I never saw such a kick in my previous life, and but one 
subsequently that at all approached it. It caused one- 
half of the mountain to tremble to his very base and 
then take up his uneven flight for the friendly shelter of 



214 VEKY MUCH CONFUSE AND SOMEWHAT FATIGUE. 

the spy-house, where he sank exhausted upon the soft 
matting, and as we looked back we could see him ges- 
ticulating violently in our direction ; and it caused the 
other half to place his hand indignantly upon his sword 
until Mahomet made a demonstration in his direction, 
when he followed his more bulky companion with alarmed 
activity. Our path was crossed by no more mountains 
that day, — many rough hills, and no end of watercourses 
and rocky roads; but no more mountains. Mahomet 
looked as large as two ordinary men after the successful 
accomplishment of this feat, and as we crossed the broken 
waters of the river Inodzu-gama by a bridge of planks 
nailed on the heads of numerous piles, we talked quite 
triumphantly of our victory, and almost wished that we 
had another two-sworded officer to exercise upon. 

Our friend "Mahomet" was no other than Lawton; and 
since that kick I have entertained the most profound ad- 
miration for his understanding. 

It was a beautiful valley that we were now ascending, 
— wildly beautiful in its strange isolation from the world, 
in its irregular formation, in its short and angular turn- 
ings, in the clear and limpid stream which, flowing 
through its highly-cultivated centre, followed its every 
turning and here and there approached the jutting feet 
of the mountains on either side ; wildly beautiful in the 
dense and unknown foliage, in grove after grove of the 
wax-like japonica, in the startled flight of brilliant birds, 
in the sudden dash of the mountain-trout, and in the 
shady cottages of the unknown people. 

We had much to see, more to think about, still more 
that was lost to us. "Who ever yet.saw all that was worth 



■ HOW TO EXCITE JAPANESE CURIOSITY, 215 

seeing during his first walk in tlie strange land of a still 
stranger people ? Sometimes we would leave the highway 
that followed along the river's bank, and, following a 
winding footpath, come suddenly npon some rural habi- 
tation and its startled occupants. Then what a scene of 
noise and confusion would ensue! Dogs barking and 
slinking off behind corners, children screaming and 
clinging to their mothers for protection, while the mo- 
thers themselves, in some cases, wrung their hands and 
blubbered like so many children, — everybody and every 
thing flying from us as if destruction existed in our very 
appearance. By the men only were we, as a general rule, 
differently received ; and even they often avoided us, or 
approached with distrustful glances, as their retreating 
household left them alone with the " Amelikins." 

We generally commenced these interviews by exclaim- 
ing "Ohio," (good-morning,) then shaking hands with 
friendly energy, next addressing them as "John," and 
finally producing a cigar for each of the party. These 
they would light with great difficulty, watching our mo- 
tions very closely, soon tire of smoking them, put them 
aside carefully, and end by lighting their own small pipes 
and offering us a puff, while waxing bold enough to 
feel the texture of our clothes, examine onr boots, &c. &c. 
About this period of the action we would produce a watch, 
revolver, box of matches, or some equally, to them, un- 
known principle, and explain its mechanism or use ; and 
before ending we were generally surrounded by the entire 
family, — women, children, and dogs, — all apparently (not 
even excepting the latter) equally curious to see "what 
the row was." What wonders the feeling of curiosity 



216 "nipon" and "amelika." 

will effect ! It was our most powerful lever in working 
ourselves into tlie good graces of those singular but — I 
mean the masses — well-meaning people. 

The motion of the watch seemed to afford them more 
satisfaction than any thing else ; and, by pointing to the 
sun and -the hour-hand alternately, making various signs, 
and using a few disconnected words of their language, 
which we would acquire expressly for these walks, we 
generally gave them a very fair idea of its use and value. 
They were also much amazed at our revolvers, making 
signs that one American was more than equal to six Ja- 
panese, and that "Kipon" and "Amelika" must always 
be friends. 

When we would get up to leave, after all this, they 
would press around to shake hands, and often accompa- 
nied us some distance on our walk. They seemed to 
pass at once from a state of distrust to one of perfect 
confidence, and would laugh heartily at other parties 
who, seeing us suddenly round a corner, would drop 
their baskets or bundles and run for dear life, until re- 
assured by a well-known voice or familiar face. We 
could not avoid the conviction that the officials had im- 
pressed the people with the idea that we were cut- 
throats, &c., and that they would best consult their own 
safety by avoiding all communication. At any rate, they 
always received us distrustfully and parted from us in 
the utmost good-humour. 

It was in this way that we continued our walk up the 
romantic valley until 1 p.m., when we reached a wayside 
tavern, where we wiped our heated brows, pulled off our 
heavy boots, and stretched out upon the clean-looking. 



A JAPANESE PUBLICAN. .217 

cashion-like mats witla Aviiich tlie floors of their houses 
are always spread. There are wayside taverns in Japan 
as well as in the rest of the world, reader, and the pub- 
lican of this particular one was a fine-looking old man, 
with an upright frame, an expansive forehead, a mild 
blue eye, and a general cast of features that partook as 
much of the Caucasian as of the Mongolian race. He 
received us without the slightest hesitation of manner, — 
in fact, with polite self-possession, (lie had evidently been 
thrown in contact with foreigners before, possibly with 
members of Perry's squadron at Si-mo-da,) — and drew us 
off" several cups of saki from one of his numerous hogs- 
heads. He also called his wife and daughters to see the 
"Amelikins," and they approached without the usual 
signs of distrust, smiling good-humouredly, and giving 
utterance to several connected words, which, judging 
from the morning compliments usually indulged in by 
the ladies of our own land, we concluded had some bear- 
ing upon the "general state of the weather and upon the 
heat of our walk in particular;" but of this we were 
never fully satisfied. 

In the mean time, the old gentleman began spitting 
several fine specimens of mountain-trout and sticking 
them upright before the fire, intimating, by signs, that 
they would soon be done, and that they would agree well 
with the saki. We very shortly proved the truth of his 
signs, to our entire satisfaction. 

We then, in turn, produced our lunch, of which they 
all partook sparingly, tasting each difierent article, such 
as cold ham, sardines, loaf-bread, claret, &c., and then 
passing it to their next neighbour. They seemed pleased 



218 VOTE OF THANKS TO "MAHOMET." 

with tliem all, save tlie claret, over which they made 
awfully wry faces — there is no denying that it ivas a 
little sour — and compared it to vinegar, which latter is 
with them an article of great consumption. "We passed 
an hour in this way very pleasantly, and then hauled on 
our boots, which had previously been passing the rounds 
as objects of great admiration, bade our kind hosts fare- 
well, and, leaving the river at right angles, struck over 
the mountain for the sea, supposing it to be distant about 
two or three miles. 

We had a tough climb up the ravine-paths ; but the 
work of surveying had well used us to exertion of that 
nature, and at the end of an hour we were looking down 
from a rocky pass, between two neighbouring peaks, 
upon the distant sea. "We were surprised at its great 
distance, — at least three or four miles to the beach, and 
six or eight more along the beach to Si-mo-da. "We 
began to think that we might have to sleep on shore 
after all ; but, by driving steadily ahead, having the good 
fortune not to get lost, and resisting the temptation to stop 
at the inviting villages through which we passed, we 
reached our boat in good time, and took our friend Bri- 
dleman on board with us to a dinner by candlelight. 

That same night the affair of "Mahomet and the 
mountain" spread around the mess like wildfire, and 
resulted in a vote of thanks being tendered the former 
for his gallant bearing, and a resolution that " we do 
likewise to the first two-sworded officer who presumes to 
follow us hereafter." 

It was not long before an opportunity for testing our 
determination to "do likewise" presented itself; and 



CONVERSATION AFTER ANOTHER KICK. 219 

this second argument was urged with even more spirit 
and determination than the first, simply from the fact 
that we now felt convinced there would be no fighting, 
whereas, in the first attempt, no one knew but that we 
might have been "catching a tartar" instead of kicking 
a Japanese. This second afiair occurred some miles 
from Si-mo-da, near another roadside inn. I take the 
following extract, as to what followed it, from my 
papers : — 

" Having thus, by a healthy kick and a show of further 
violence, relieved ourselves of our noble companions, we 
now passed a quiet hour with our plebeian friends and 
then continued our now unmolested walk. Our conver- 
sation with said ' scum of the earth' (as the ofl&cers call 
all of the swordless class) was necessarily carried on by 
the usual signs, grimaces, &c., sprinkled here and there 
by a few words which we knew by heart or had written 
on paper; and yet one would be astonished to see how 
well people can often get along in that way. Among 
other things, we had no difficulty in comprehending the 
following pieces of information : — 

" ' We are very glad that you kicked him ; but, had one 
of us done so, his head would have been cut off.' 

" ' We work, and ihei/ walk around. We have to give 
them money to buy food with.' 

" ' We would like very much to know all about you, to 
buy and sell with you, but the^/ won't let us.' 

"'"We cannot do what the officials do not want us 
to,' &c. &c." 

N"ow, from the above and various other remarks, — 
which I do not remember, — we could not but conclude 



220 A GRAND CHANCE POR " FILLIBUSTERS." 

that the ^people of Japan are as ripe for revolt as the most 
violent flibustier could desire, while, at the same time, 
we were forced to acknowledge that they were kept under 
more effectually than any nation under the sun. Pro- 
bably, a latent inclination to revolt among the masses 
first gave rise to extreme severity on the part of their 
rulers, as a precautionary measure. In speaking of the 
masses, I include merchants, (many of whom are worth 
more money than many of the nobles,) farmers, priests, 
artisans of every description, tailors, sailors, fishermen, 
publicans, and, in short, everybody in Japan whose birth 
or services to the state have not given him the right of 
wearing two swords stuck through his sash. 

So much for strolls through the country adjoining 
Si-mo-da. 



CHAPTER Xm. 

SOMETHING ABOUT BUYING AND SELLING IN JAPAN, AND HOW THEY USED 

COMMODORE PEKKY'S TKEATY TO SWINDLE US ^ALSO, HOW THEY ASK 

FOKEIGNERS TO LET PEOPLE ENJOY THEIR MEALS IN QUIET, AND HOW 
A FOREIGNER FELT UNUSUALLY SMALL. 

Before I commence to show how it was that we went 
to the bazaar and how we were swindled in various ways, 
it will be necessary to give the reader an idea of the 
comparative value of Japanese and American money; 
and this calls for a slight digression. 

It had been the "Japanese fashion," from time im- 
memorial, to make presents of every thing that left 
the country ; that is, a strange ship would arrive off 
one of their ports, and, while refusing to let her an- 
chor, they would nevertheless furnish her, free of 
charge, with all such things as wood, water, provisions, 
&c., and then order her away. Of course I except in 
this the regular vessels of the Dutch, which arrived at 
N^an-ga-sa-ki twice every year, and with which they traded 
quite largely, though under certain very degrading re- 
quirements at the hands of these latter. For instance, 
they were confined to their ships, guarded with insult- 
ing closeness, and required to be basely deferential to 
their stupid customs and arrogant officials. And these 
sycophantic ISTetherlanders were, and had been since 
the expulsion of the Jesuits, the most favoured of nations. 

221 



222 ITZABU vs. DOLLAR. 

Commodore Perry's treaty, however, having just been 
signed before our arrival, we now had the liberty, through 
it, of landing and walking where we would. Hence it was 
supposed that we had the right to enter any man's store 
and purchase that article which most suited our taste 
and pocket. But, as the merchant would in this case 
receive all the profit, the sleepless policy of that astute 
Government had taken care to introduce a defensive 
article in the treaty, which provided that "Americans 
should purchase every thing through the officers of the 
Government" After which, vendors of all ranks and 
classes were given to understand that they were not to 
sell to any American except through an officer, upon pain 
of losing their heads. Thus they had it arranged quite 
smoothly for the Government, and the revenue thus 
resulting was at least worth the trouble attendant upon 
the conception and execution of the idea, — which idea 
amounted to the following in plain English : — 

"These Americans," they said to themselves, (those 
of Perry's squadron,) " know a great deal about China. 
An American dollar is worth in China from fourteen to 
sixteen hundred cash, and a Japanese itzabu is worth in 
Japan sixteen hundred cash, also. An American dollar 
has a little more silver in it than three of our itzabu ; so, 
if we can make it by treaty equal to only sixteen hun- 
dred cash, we can receive them in payment at that rate, 
pass them through the mint, and — presto! — they are 
divided into three, each of which is worth as much as 
what we received it for." 

Now, so far as I can see, there is nothing but a very 
grand rascality and considerable cunning in the concep- 



ONE OF THE RESULTS' OF " PERRY'S TREATY." 223 

tion of the above idea ; but it is passing singular that 
they should have executed it successfully against Yankee 
forethought, or even, indeed, against ordinary common 
sense. 

How was so great a mistake committed by Commodofe 
Perry? One asks in vain. We only know from sad 
experience that it luas committed, and that the conse- 
quence of this depreciated value being attached to our 
coin results in a duty of just two hundred per cent, being 
paid to the emperor on all American silver that enters 
Japan from American pockets, and that we Americans 
are the ones who pay that duty. 

"When payment was made in gold we lost this same 
two hundred per cent., but the emperor gained little 
or nothing. The reason of this was that the difference 
between the value of gold and silver was much less than 
in other parts of the world. So much for the way in 
which Commodore Perry was weathered; and now for 
the fleecing consequences which it entailed on us. 

We made quite a grand display as we landed from our 
ten or a dozen boats and formed in marching-order 
under the dense shade of the grand old trees that lined 
the landing, while two drums and a fife took the 
head of the column and enlivened us with "both vocal 
and instrumental music." We were all in uniform, 
swords and cocked hats being the order of the day; 
and, to judge from the great numbers of the fair sex 
that crowded the streets through which we passed, 
there were weak heads in Japan also, who, like two 
out of three similar heads in other parts of the world, 
were too apt to judge birds by their feathers. 



224 ''^<^i:^ A JAPANESE BAZAAR. 

And now, as we approach the bazaar, let us take a 
bird's-ei'.^i-^iew of its construction and general appear- 
ance. 

It was never my fortune to see either a saw-mill or 
pit in Japan; and yet this building was got up with 
very fair pine boards that had evidently been saioed. They 
were rough and unplaned, truly; but then that only let 
one see that they had been sawed and not hewn. The 
building itself covered about three-fourths of an acre 
of ground, was perfectly square, some fifteen feet in 
height, one-storied, and enclosed an immense square 
court, whose area was probably greater than that of 
the building itself. Its roof was thatched and sloped to- 
ward the court, and it was possessed of but one entrance. 
In short, it was nothing but four equall}'- long, wide, and 
high sheds put together so as to form a square, and 
having a door left in one of said sides near one of the 
corners. It had, like the spy-houses, been built solely 
for us and since our arrival, and would, like them, be 
torn down after our departure. 

We entered at the solitary door, and, like so many 
children in a toyshop with an unexpected supply of 
pocket-money at their disposal, looked around upon 
the brilliant display, and confused ourselves by wonder- 
ing which we were to admire most, which we were to 
pass by, and which to linger over. 

Two of the four shed-like sides of the building were 
divided off into stalls, one of which M^as furnished to each 
merchant to enable him to display specimens of his wares to 
the best advantage ; while the spaces immediately in front 
of the stalls were covered by boxes containing the wares, 



CONTENTS OF THE STALLS. 225 

of which those on the shelves were only samples. They 
evidently expected us to purchase largely, thinking pro- 
bably that we came as much on a speculating voyage as 
any thing else. Of the remaining two sides, one was 
vacant, while the other was divided into one large and 
two small apartments, — the former of which was neatly 
covered with cushion-like matting and given to us as a 
lounging-place, while the two latter were appropriated 
by the Government-officials who had charge of the 
affair as an office and spy-room. It is needless to say 
that the spy-room joined the gate : they saw every thing. 

As we passed leisurely from one stall to another, we 
remarked a great sameness in their general appearance. 
There was but one which differed materially from the 
others, and there the difference consisted in its being 
filled with china instead of lacquer-ware. But such 
china as it was ! — superior by far to the most delicate 
French porcelain, and infinitely more cheap, in spite 
of the depreciation of our money. 

The other stalls were just like so many " old- curiosity 
shops," — a little of every thing Japanese being to be found 
on their shelves, from the purchase of which the least 
possible amount of use was ever to flow. Like the 
porcelain, the lacquer-ware was of the most beautiful 
description, and exceeded that of China as greatly as did 
said porcelain the most ordinary stone crockery. One 
piece I remember in particular, the gorgeousness of 
whose colouring attracted the admiration of every one as 
he passed it. It was a most happy and truthful imitation 
of an ordinary "red-fish" (such as are caught in the Gulf 
of Mexico) of some eighteen inches in length ; and, upon 

15 



226 PAPER UMBRELLAS AND RAIN-CLOAKS. 

attempting to take it up by the side-fin to examine it more 
closely, two-thirds of its top-side was lifted off, showing 
it to be a dish capable of holding a large boiled or baked 
fish. They told ns it was made to hold such a dish at the 
feasts of the "big bugs" of Japan, and that the lacquer 
was so fine that hot water exercised no power upon it. 
This they said of a great deal of their best lacquer-ware, 
and the truth of their assertion we subsequently proved 
at our own mess-table. From what we then and have 
since observed, we all came to the conclusion that they 
are infinitely superior to all other nations as far as regards 
the quality of their porcelain, lacquer-ware, and swords. 

Among a number of other articles, all well worthy of a 
passing notice, we saw umbrellas and rain-cloaks, both 
of them being made entirely of the bamboo-plant and a 
vegetable oil the name of which I now forget. They 
make paper from the above useful plant which is as 
strong and lasting as the best calico, and which, when 
well oiled, becomes perfectly water-proof. Expose your- 
self to an hour's hard rain with one of those hooded 
cloaks on, or with one of those umbrellas over your head, 
and you come out of it as dry as you went in. I myself 
used one of the former on constant boat-service during a 
period of several months, and found it to answer admi- 
rably ; and, at the end of that time, I drew forth warm 
thanks from a friend in San Francisco to whom I pre- 
sented it : it was still water-proof. 

There were also a great variety of a species of litho- 
graphic engraving exposed in piles for sale on some of 
the shelves, of which several of us purchased largely. 
They did not exhibit any remarkable art as far as the 



THE EMPEROR BECOMES ALARMED. 227 

"getting up" was concerned; but we valued them as 
specimens of the art, nevertheless. We had heard much 
of the accuracy of the Japanese pencil and brush ; but 
their lithographs did not argue any great beauty in the 
originals. They generally referred to Fu-si-ya-ma, (their 
sacred mountain,) to scenes from city and country life, 
to their various games, to distorted male and female 
figures, or to public buildings. These latter were appa- 
rently truthful; but all of the others partook more of 
the nature of caricatures than of natural appearances, 
and were undoubtedly calculated to impart an exagge- 
rated and distorted idea of most of the subjects to which 
they referred; as, for instance : — 

There was one scene of a trial of strength between 
two wrestlers, in which they must have weighed (com- 
paring them with the figures of the audience) from seven 
to eight hundred pounds each, while their surplus fat 
hung about their huge necks and shoulders like the folds 
of the skin of the rhinoceros. These fellows were 
wrestling on the "sawdusted" pit of an immense amphi- 
theatre, the seats of which were crowded with an ad- 
miring audience, while the referees stood off' in two 
separate parties. 

While we were looking at these lithographs, orders 
came from Yeddo to stop the sale of them ; and this, of 
course, only made us more anxious to buy. The shop- 
men, however, would no longer sell, and, upon our apply- 
ing to Tatz-nosky, he replied that the emperor thought 
they would give too good an idea of what was going on 
in Japan, and had ordered that they be all returned to 
Yeddo. Upon hearing this, we at once went through the 



tl'Ib WHAT THEY DO NOT SELL. 

different stalls before they had a chance to pack them 
away, and took under our arms every picture that we 
could lay our hands upon. Of course the merchants said 
that we could not have them ; that they were not for sale, 
— only to be looked at ; that they would not receive pay 
for them; that their heads would be cut off, &c. &c. : but 
we nevertheless carried them quietly on board, and the 
next day they, in as quiet, matter-of-course a manner, 
received payment for them, while their heads were still 
in their usual place. 

Thus it was that pictures of every description were 
added to the list of articles which, by express orders of 
the emperor, were not to be sold, bartered, or given to 
persons living outside of Japan. And, while making 
this remark, I may as well mention as many of those 
reserved articles as I can recall. In the first place, then, 
there were their swords; secondly, every thing in the 
shape of an offensive or defensive weapon, all of the 
tools of the various trades, and the coinage of the country. 
Then there were these engravings descriptive of Japanese 
life, and a variety of other articles which I cannot now 
remember. And as fast as any thing was thus embargoed 
it was immediately packed up and sent back into the 
country. .- 

It took us several hours to see enough of the varied 
and beautiful display of the rare specimens of their un- 
known workmanship that were crowded upon the shelves 
and floors of every stall ; but the thing which surprised 
us most was to see the prices of the various articles 
marked on them in dollars and cents, just as one sees 
them pinned on goods exposed as samples in the win- 



TATZ-NOSKY AND NOAH WEBSTER. 229 

dows and at the doors of our own shops. I subsequently 
learned the secret of this from Tatz-nosky, who — with an 
unabridged edition of Noah Webster's dictionary, and an 
immense pile of scattering pieces of information in the 
shape of symbols, detached words, and sentences obtained 
from the officers of Perry's and our squadrons, at his 
elbow — was rapidly, and with dogged perseverance, 
informing himself as to our language and customs in 
general. I could not but conclude that the Japanese 
would soon know much more about us than we ever 
should about them, unless another treaty should more 
fully open their ports. Once let Tatz-nosky and his 
brother-interpreters master the English language, once 
let books be introduced into Japan, and the day of their 
stupid seclusion will be past. 

When I asked him how these prices had been ob- 
tained, he was candid enough to acknowledge that the 
different merchants had requested him to write them on 
slips of papers, and that they paid him quite hand^ 
somely. He had his pocket-book at the time filled with 
slips of bamboo-paper, on which he wrote different values 
in both Japanese and English as he was applied to by the 
merchants. Tatz-nosky was evidently wide awake as to 
the propriety of turning an honest itzabu. 

The merchants, therefore, having to pay for these tal- 
lies, were loath to let them go with the goods. Thus, when 
any thing was bought, they invariably took them off and 
stowed them away as one would a bank-note ; but many 
of us, wishing to pack our things just as they stood, objected 
to this practice, and were, in return, often charged from 
fifty to a hundred cash (three to six cents) for this luxury 



230 HOW THEY SET TRAPS IN JAPAN.' 

of letting our friends at home see their presents just as 
we had seen them in Japan. 

They were cunning enough, too, as far as disposing 
of inferior goods was concerned, for they only brought 
out these at first, reserving the others for the last few 
days of our stay. "We did not see any of their " number 
one" specimens during our first or second visit, and, 
when we asked in regard to them, they would insist that 
" we saw all ; they knew of nothing else," &c. They were 
evidently anxious to dispose of the inferior lot first, after 
which they knew that we would not fail to be disgusted 
with our purchases as soon as the higher-priced ones 
should be exposed, and then we would be certain to lay 
out more money. And they were right; for, although 
the most of us returned on board the first day without 
making any purchases, still, we "caved in" on the second 
day and bought quite freely. Then, on the third day, 
they commenced bringing in the high-priced articles, 
and we began falling into the trap. 

Day after day, therefore, as we returned and lounged 
through the crowded showrooms, new articles of unex- 
pected beauty and rare excellence of workmanship would 
rise before us at every turn, cast a shade over every thing 
of the kind previously bought, and cause us to long for 
heavier pockets or more reasonable charges. 

Oh ! they were a cunning, a most dishonest set of fel- 
lows, those very Japanese merchants, holding up their 
wares before us, and tempting us to board the shrinking 
purser for various sums until we finally found ourselves 
heels over head in debt ! They would watch us with 
"crickets' eyes," while we examined their various articles. 



PUT HIM IN A BOX. 231 

judge with astonishing accuracy as to those with which wo 
seemed most struck, and the next day all similar articles 
would be advanced in price, sometimes as much as a 
hundred per cent. They would take the tallies off at 
night, and put on others with higher marks on them, 
and then insist, with their usual barefaced disregard for 
truth, that "all the same as yesterday." This was all 
very provoking, truly ; and yet what could we do ? We 
had either to consent, in the first place, to be swindled 
by the treaty, and, in the second place, by the merchants 
themselves, or we must leave Japan without purchasing 
presents of their rare and beautiful workmanship for our 
absent friends. We chose the former of the two, and, 
with the unenviable feelings of men who are aware of 
the fleecing they are being subjected to without the 
most remote hope of being able to protect themselves, 
we continued our daily selections. 

We were even denied the pleasure (?) of haggling 
over the price of things with any prospect of success. 
There was nothing like that there. There it was in bold 
relief, written in the plainest of both English and Ja- 
panese ; so we only had to say the magic words, " Put 
him in a box," or, "Put him in paper," or pass on to 
some other article more or less expensive. Those 
"magic words" require a word of explanation. 

As a general rule, the Japanese make neat boxes of a 
species of white cedar for their lacquer-ware, &;c., when 
it is of ordinary, fair, or JSTo. 1 quality ; but for the in- 
ferior articles they use paper as wrappings. While ex- 
posed for sale, all of the former were set on the top of 
their empty boxes, while the latter were stowed en masse 



232 NO PUT HIM IN A BOX ! 

and treated generally with much less consideration. As 
soon, therefore, as a thing would be bought, we would be 
more than likely to say, " Put it in a box," or, " Put it in 
paper," or something of that sort; and their watchful 
ears soon caught these sounds, while their observing 
eyes told them that whenever they were uttered some- 
thing was always bought. So, with a very imperfect 
idea of what "put him in a box" meant, they would 
watch us with their glittering eyes as we lingered over 
their wares, and encourage us to purchase by using that 
expression from time to time as they observed us to 
hesitate. After a while, they arrived at its exact mean- 
ing, but had got so used to it by that time, that, when 
any thing whose quality did not entitle it to a box was 
bought, they could only hold it and remark, in a manner 
of nonplussed inquiry, ^'■No put him in a box!" which 
we found to mean that they could only afford to wrap it 
up in paper. 

As we selected the different things in this way, we 
were followed by one, two, or three boys, as the extent 
of our purchase might call for. As fast as an article was 
bought, we entered its name (having often to coin them 
for ourselves) and price on our list, and passed on to 
something else, while our M^atchful attendant picked it 
up and followed us around as long as we lingered in his 
particular stall. When we had tired of one merchant, 
we crossed the court to the sitting-room of those who 
had charge of the affair, (the officials,) where we always 
found them sitting a la Turque around a metallic brasier 
containing live coals, at which they, from time to time, 
lit their diminutive pipes or warmed their sugarless tea. 



WHAT THEY GAIN BY THE TREATY. 233 

They would also make a list of the articles brought by 
the boys who followed us, count the cost, compare their 
amount with ours and that of the merchant, and then 
receive it in silver dollars. The goods were then de- 
livered to us, and an acknowledgment given to the mer- 
chant to the effect that the Government owed hirn an 
itzabu for each dollar that had been paid in. 

As night approached and business was closed for the 
day, all the dollars that had been received were counted 
in the presence of the several officers and spies, boxed 
up carefully, and immediately forwarded to Yeddo, 
where they went into the mint as iizabu only, and came 
out multiplied by three and a fraction. An itzabu for 
every dollar received was then sent back to Si-mo-da, 
and the acknowledgments redeemed. 

Thus it will be seen that if a merchant sold one hun- 
dred itzabu worth of goods, he received his money in 
full, and in good time ; that the Government cleared a 
fraction over sixty-seven cents on every silver dollar that 
entered their ports, and that we and our poor old Uncle 
Samuel were really the only sufferers. For, though one 
hundred dollars was marked on the goods as their price, 
still, it was with the understanding that a dollar, though 
more than three times as heavy, was still only equal to 
an itzabu, and the same goods would have been sold to 
us at thirty-three dollars, could we only have converted 
that weight of silver into its real value equal to one hun- 
dred itzabu. 

"I'll tell you what it is," I remarked to one of the 
officers while paying my first bill; "the first thing you 
know, some American will imitate your die, and come 



234 COMPAEATIVE VALUE OF GOLD AND SILVER. 

liere with a sliipload of itzabu to buy your goods with : 
then you'll have to receive your own money for what it is 
worth." 

He smiled calmly at my evident greenness, as he re- 
plied, through Tatz-nosky, as follows : — " It is not possi- 
ble for Japanese itzabu to go out of ISTipon : how, then, 
can they ever be brought back again ? If we saw you 
with itzabu, we would know that you had made them ; 
hence we would not be forced to receive them. They 
would not be our coin in that case." After this 
" sogdollager"-like argument, he quietly lit his pipe, 
handed it to me, and smiled a smile of careless in- 
difference. 

I have previously remarked that silver was much more 
preferable to them than gold ; and the reason was this : 
a gold-piece of theirs, valued at four itzabu, weighs 
about as much as one of our quarter-eagles. Hence, 
if an article was marked $2 50, and was paid for with a 
quarter-eagle, the gold received would only be equal 
to four itzabu ; but, were it paid for in silver, this latter 
would be equal to seven and three-quarters itzabu, or 
nearly double. From this it will be seen that gold is 
less valuable in Japan than in other countries; and, 
were it not for the peculiar policy of that people, this 
difference might be speculated on to great advantage 
by outsiders ; but, as there is no possibility of one's 
buying it up and getting it out of the country, the fact 
loses much of its importance. 

I asked Tatz-nosky, among other questions, why gold was 
not more valuable ; was it as plentiful as silver among them? 
&c. &c. : and he replied it was as hard to dig one as the 



HOW THEY ANSWER QUESTIONS. 235 

other ; from whicli I inferred that he had answered my 
last question in the affirmative : but, when I said some- 
thing to that effect, he added an ambiguous remark 
that left me as much in the dark as ever: — "They are 
both in the ground: how, therefore, can we tell?" or 
words to that effect. The above gives a very fair idea 
of the cautious manner in which they answered our 
questions. 

Upon one occasion, when we were making home- 
purchases, one of the nomadics (Mr. Edgerton) offered 
a gold eagle and one silver dollar in payment, and it 
was flatly refused. " Why do you refuse it?" he asked. 
" The treaty says that ' payment shall be made in gold 
and silver.' I fulfil its conditions by giving you ten 
dollars in gold and one in silver, and you break it by 
insisting on receiving eleven silver dollars. You won't 
be satisfied until we bring a thousand fillibusters from 
California to see you and teach you what's right. Tell 
them so." 

Poor Tatz-nosky, at this period of the action, looked 
remarkably small and confused. 

"Do you not see that I am only the interpreter?" he 
asked, in his imperfect English. " I only tell you what 
I am told. It is not my fault if the emperor prefers 
being paid in silver." 

"Confound your emperor's tastes!" continued Edger- 
ton, as he reluctantly hauled out the silver. "I came 
here on the strength of the treaty, bringing nothing but 
gold with me; and now I find it won't pass. "What 
kind of a treaty do you call that ? Commodore Perry '11 
come back here some day and blow you sk^'-high." 



236 WHY THEY SIGNED THE TREATY. 

"Japanese like Commodore Perry very much," re- 
plied Tatz-nosky, " but not understand him all. Japanese 
will do what Commodore Perry speak," &c. &c. 

And yet, while thus invariably protesting their willing- 
ness to fulfil the requirements of the treaty, they scarcely 
ever did so. They are certainly — politically speaking, at 
any rate — the most dishonest and untrustworth}^ people 
in the world; and, in my opinion, a good flibustiers' 
drubbing is the only thing that will ever introduce them 
to honesty. The great bugbear of the Government is 
the fear of a foreign war. They are well aware of the 
one which the English waged so successfully against 
their neighbours the Chinese, and are nervously afraid 
of experiencing similar treatment at the hands of any 
nation they may be so unfortunate as to offend. There is 
no manner of doubt in my mind that this fear was a 
powerful, though unacknowledged, auxiliary in bringing 
them to the signing of any treaty at all. I firmly be- 
lieve that they signed it as the lesser of two evils ; that they 
knew at the time exactly what it meant, and that there was 
a "mental reservation" on their part to respect its pro- 
visions only so far as they should be forced to to keep 
out of trouble. And this is not my opinion alone, but 
that also of all with whom I have conversed who were 
there with me, and who, like me, suffered from their 
unfaithfulness. And now let us turn to the stalls once 
more. 

One of the objects most worthy of admiration was an 
artificial bird, — an ordinary chicken-hawk ; and it was de- 
cidedly the most naturally-executed thing that I ever saw. 
No feather-work specimen of Rio Janeiro, Madeira, or any 



A SINGULAR FABRIC. 237 

other part of tlie world, ever excelled it. It was the first 
thing of the kind that we had seen or heard of; but we 
were told that they were quite plentiful in Yeddo. This 
fellow sat upon an ivory perch, to which he was secured 
by a chain of the same, and was invariably, when first 
seen, taken for a live bird : every thing was perfect 

There was also in one of those stalls a most beauti- 
ful fabric, which, for want of a better name, we called 
crimped crape. It was in the form of a scarf, some four 
feet in length by six inches in width, was of a brilliant 
crimson colour, and capable of being stretched to a length 
of twenty feet while retaining its width unimpaired. Upon 
being let go, after being thus elongated, it would spring 
back, India-rubber-like, to its former length. We subse- 
quently observed that the women used it largely for tying 
up their hair, and that after a time its elasticity became 
greatly impaired. "What a sweet spring-scarf it would 
make !" exclaimed a" young lady of Philadelphia, upon 
seeing a sample of it, which I had brought home simply 
to show the fabric. 

And now I will conclude this account of the bazaar 
with a general remark upon the utter uselessness of the 
great majority of the articles made by the Japanese for 
export. They themselves have no use for many of them ; 
and, when asked why they had been made, would reply 
that they were copied from drawings or patterns ob- 
tained from the Dutch, and that they — the Dutch — 
bought them in large quantities and carried them 
away. 

As we walked among them, such expressions as the 
following might be heard at every turn : — " It's a very 



238 HOUSES, DOORS, AND WINDO'WS. 

beautiful piece of work, truly, but then what use can it 
be put to?" "I don't believe they would know what to 
do with it themselves," &c. &c. ; and it was really singular 
how many things there were to which similar remarks 
would apply. 

And now let me end this chapter by giving a rough 
idea of the Japanese houses. They are generally built 
of rough stone-masonry, or upright poles placed very 
close together and plastered over like laths, and they 
are from one to two stories in height. They are some- 
times thatched, but more generally tiled, and at Ha-ko- 
da-di these tiles were in turn covered by tons of different- 
sized stones, apparently sufficient in some cases to crush 
in the whole roof. They are partitioned off into several 
mysterious apartments, and have doors hung on iron 
or wooden hinges and which fasten with the ordinary 
string-latch. The floors of all those which I entered were 
raised about a foot, and covered by oblong sections of 
stuffed matting, which fitted so snugly together that there 
was no danger of getting the foot into the cracks. These 
mats were as soft as the seat of an ordinary hair-sofa, 
and were always kept beautifully clean, — persons leaving 
their sandals in a square earthen cuddy-hole before step- 
ping upon them. 

These rooms receive light and ventilation through 
most ingeniously-contrived windows, and many of the 
partitions and doors are after the same idea. Having no 
glass, they are forced to use a very strong and semi-trans- 
parent bamboo-paper, which they stretch over the frames 
very tightly and then paste down. These frames are just 
like ours, only the surface of the cross-pieces is flat, to 



UPON THE SPUR OF THE MOMENT. 239 

enable the paper to adhere. They work back and forth 
in the side of a house like folding-doors, and give more 
light than one would imagine. They are so strong that 
I have snapped my finger against the centre of the (paper) 
pane with considerable force and had it rebound from it 
as from a tightly-snared drum-head. 

Of course the inmates cannot see what is going on in 
the streets, but then they have the satisfaction of know- 
ing that they are equally protected. If they want air or 
are curious, all they have to do is to slide the frames side- 
ways. The dwelling-houses are generally from twenty 
to thirty feet square ; but some of the temples, with their 
outbuildings, cover upward of two acres. These latter 
are not used solely as places of worship, but are often 
appropriated as the quarters of the retainers of powerful 
princes during their journeys. 

Some of the more pretending houses have piazzas, 
which are tiled over as usual, and slatted up along the 
sides so that the passion-flower and other creepers may 
protect them from the sun. I was once passing one of 
those cozy-looking two-story establishments toward the 
end of a solitary ramble, when, hearing music overhead, 
I was suddenly seized with a desire to see what was going 
on, and, without stopping to consider upon the breeding 
of the procedure, at once climbed up to the roof of the 
porch and looked into the open window of a room on the 
second floor. There I saw three musicians seated on the 
inner side of the matted floor, while in the centre of the 
room was a large lacquer-ware tray of viands, around 
which were seated a middle-aged Japanese and a young, 
■ highly-dressed, and very pretty girl. They were attacking 



240 I RECEIVE A LESSON IN POLITENESS. 

the contents of the tray with unmistakable relish, and I 
should probably have joined them with pleasure had not 
the man got up with a dignity which put me to the blush 
and — shut the window in my face. I really felt ashamed 
of myself, and arrived at the end of my walk, with the 
determination to respect the privacy of others, even if 
they were only half civilized. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

BOMETHINQ ABOUT BATHS AND BATHING IN JAPAN, AND HOW THET OBJECTED 
TO OUR SUKVETING THEIR COASTS — HOW WE OVERCAME THEIR OBJECTIONS, 
AND HOW TATZ-NOSKT TOOK SEVERAL LONG RIDES — HOW BUNSBT DIS- 
COVERED LAND, AND HOW THE "OLD JOHN" CROSSED THE STRAITS OF 
T' SUGAR. 

There is a wide-spread idea in regard to the profligacy 
and lewdness of the Japanese as a nation ; and, thougli it 
mnst be confessed that there is little or no modesty 
among the middle and lower classes, — we had no oppor- 
tunity of judging in regard to the higher, — still, I never 
during our entire intercourse with them saw any indica- 
tions of a lack of practical morality. IN'atural depravity 
and impurity of taste is perceptible at almost every turn 
in the shape of lewd engravings and a disregard to expo- 
sure of the person ; but then it must be remembered that 
they are half-civilized Orientals, and heathens at that. 
As far as their acts are concerned, the women are per- 
fectly correct in their intercourse with strangers, which is 
more than can be said of the Chinese, though they do 
what the latter do not, — they bathe promiscuously with 
the opposite sex in the public baths, because, I suppose, 
their ancestors did so before them, and their primitive 
ideas recognise no harm in so doing. 

These people are, like most Orientals, a nation of 
ducks, — their greatest luxury consisting in vapour, warm, 
or surf bathing, — and much of their time is devoted to 

16 241 



242 HOT BATHS IN JAPAN. 

their enjoyment. Even in the small town of Si-mo-da 
there are four bathing-establishments, where persons, for 
the sum of two Japanese cash, (about one-eighth of a cent,) 
may dip into an immense tub of warm water, or, when it 
is too hot, may seat themselves on beams extending over 
it and be subjected to the influence of the rising vapour, 
after which they return to the outer apartment and con- 
clude their bath by emptying or causing to be emptied 
over them a dozen or more buckets of cold water. 

They are, with the exception of the Malays, some of 
the Pacific Islanders, and the followers of Mahomet, the 
most cleanly people I ever saw. They are even unneces- 
sarily cleanly ; they bathe too often for health : one would 
think that the}'- were anxious to make up in purity of 
person for the undoubted depravity and impurity of their 
tastes. 

They have also hot and medicinal springs throughout 
the country, to which those who can afford it resort for 
the enjoyment of their real or supposed virtues. One of 
the former of these is situated about two miles up the 
valley that runs back from Si-mo-da, and is well worthy 
of a passing notice. 

It is situated at the foot of a lofty hill, on the southern 
side of the valley, and comes boiling from a fissure in the 
rock with a power indicative of a bountiful source. This 
boiling forth, we were told, however, was by no means 
constant ; at times there being a very limited flow, and 
at others a spasmodic soda-fountain-like action that pro- 
jected great quantities. The Japanese made signs to us 
that the water was much hotter when thrown out by the 
soda-fountain-like action, and that persons unaccustomed 



A SULPHUR HOT-SPRING. 243 

to it were wont to hold their noses on account of a bad 
odour that prevailed at such times. I tried to arrive at 
the nature of the odour, but could only learn that it was 
possessed of a choking sensation, and that it could be 
tasted in the water ; and I was thinking of passing a few 
hours in the vicinity, hoping for an opportunity of judg- 
ing in person, when one of our party drew a match across 
the bottom of the box to light a cigar, and the odour was 
immediately recognised by the owner of the bath as that 
in regard to which he had been making signs. It was 
sulphur. 

I at once stooped down, and, leaning over the pool, 
tried to get a cupful of the water before it became 
tainted by admixture with that in which the bathers had 
been floundering all day ; but, from the peculiar construc- 
tion of the bathing-place, I found it impracticable. This 
latter was partly hewn out of the rock, and partly walled 
up with boards, the seams of which were tightly calked. 
It was some three or four feet deep, and had a bamboo 
joint running through the wall at that height, which 
acted as a constant drain to let escape the surplus water. 
The fountain itself was in the bottom, and consequently 
three or four feet under water ; so it was no easy matter 
to get an uncontaminated cupful. At last I gave up the 
attempt : the risk was too great of my tasting water that 
had been in contact with the skin of various bathers ; I 
was not sufficiently devoted to science to encounter it. I 
put my hand in it, however, more than once, and tried in 
vain to detect the existence of sulphur through the sense 
of smell. 

It was quite warm enough even now, while the boiling 



244 ANOTHER CAUTIOUS REPLY. 

t 

was 80 beautifully even and regular; but tbey made signs 
to us that, when it burst forth a la soda-fountain, the 
bathers took good care to give the fissure a wide berth, 
for fear of being scalded. They gave us also to under- 
stand that, when the water was draAvn off at night and 
the fountain thus relieved of the pressure of the superin- 
cumbent three feet of water, it spouted forth in the form 
of a jet d'eau of several feet in height ; but this we never 
had an opportunity of seeing. 

This immense tub, or rather bathing-pool, had a bam- 
boo house built over it, and benches of the same reed 
ranged round its sides ; and, though we seated ourselves 
on those benches with the ever-existing feeling of curi- 
osity in regard to every thing connected with those iso- 
lated people, no difference did it make to the unblushing 
bathers. All ages and sexes divested themselves of their 
garments in the most matter-of-fact style, and mixed un- 
concernedly in the common centre of attraction. 

They not only did that much, but they also acted the' 
part of body-servants to each other, without the slightest 
regard to either sex or age; and this same absence of 
every thing like propriety was observed, not in that place 
alone, but upon all other occasions where our officers had 
an opportunity of judging. It prevailed throughout all 
of the bathing-establishments of Si-mo-da and Ha-ko- 
da-di, and was to be observed in the every-day life of the 
people wherever we fell in with them. I once asked 
Tatz-nosky, the interpreter, if the higher classes were 
equally shameless; and he replied, in their usual "beat- 
the-bush" manner, that at Yeddo and other large cities 
"things were not as we found them at Si-mo-da." Go- 



CAVILOSKY GETS EXCITED. 245 

lowuin, the Russian captain, who was their prisoner for a 
long time, remarks, however, that they were woefully 
wanting in modesty, and makes no exception in favour of 
the higher classes. It was revolting to see such a total 
absence of that beautiful exponent of a nation's degree 
of civilization and purity. 

While watching the bathers of the "hot spring," I 
heard something else denied which had always existed in 
my mind as a fixed fact. 

"This is the way you bathe in Russia, I believe?" I 
said to Cavilosky, the Russian officer who had accom- 
panied us. "I should think it productive of a most de- 
moralizing tendency." 

"My dear sir, you were never more mistaken in your 
life," he replied: "we are as proper in Russia as they are 
in any other part of Christendom. Where did you get 
such an idea from?" 

I referred him to the " Iconographic Encyclopaedia" as 
my authority, and added a few words in its praise a^ a 
work of standard reference. 

"Pshaw! pshaw! The 'Iconographic Encyclopsedia,' 
indeed ! — the work of a musty-headed Dutchman, whose 
brains had long been deadened by lager-bier before the 
idea of getting up such a book presented itself. Give us 
some better authority." 

I saw readily that he was prejudiced by a feeling of 
combined shame and annoyance at such a national cha- 
racteristic being attributed to his countrymen, and so 
changed the subject, with the unalterable conviction thalt 
the "musty-headed Dutchman" was right and our choleric 
little Russian wrong. 



246 WE VISIT A BATHING-HOUSE. 

While this conversation was going on, I searched in 
vain for any silicious or other matter which the water 
might precipitate when coming in contact with the air, 
and was thence forced to the conclusion that the smell of 
sulphur spoken of by the Japanese was owing to the 
escape of some noxious gas, which, finding a vent through 
the fissure with the water, thus produced, at times, the 
soda-fountain-like action before spoken of. 

This was the only hot spring near Si-mo-da that we 
heard of; but the interpreters spoke of them as being 
very common in other sections of the country. 

Surf-haihing seems to be peculiar to the lower classes 
that reside near the sea ; and it is probably the attendant 
exposure which bronzes the skins of those who indulge 
in it, until the stranger wonders why the natives along 
the coast are so much darker than those of the interior. 

I have seen as many as several hundred men, women, 
and children, — the entire population of villages, appa- 
rently, — rolling about in the surf in one promiscuous 
heap, and all the while yelling and screaming like so 
many savages. 

The inhabitants of the cities of the interior, on the 
contrary, scarcely ever approach the beach, but patronize 
the bathing-houses twice, sometimes three times, a day. 
Several of us once visited one of the most respectable of 
these latter, to examine its arrangements, &c. ; and, having 
been told that they were seldom frequented during 
the heat of the day, we chose that hour for our visit. 
Upon arriving at the establishment, we found it just 
being vacated by a most dilapidated and hideous-looking 
old woman, while another, who did not seem much better 



CHEAP BATHING. 247 

off SO far as good looks were concerned, held open the 
bamboo door and motioned us to enter. Thinking, pro- 
bably, that we had come to see their mode of bathing, she 
made signs that there were no bathers just then, but that 
there would be shortly, and that we had better seat our- 
selves around the sides and make ourselves comfortable. 

We made her understand, with considerable difficulty, 
that our object was to see the arrangement of the hot- 
water apparatus, &c., whereupon she pointed to a dark- 
looking hole at the back-end of the room that resembled 
a huge, old-fashioned wood-fireplace with the back 
knocked out, and motioned us to pass under it and see 
for ourselves. So we took advantage of the permission, 
and, at the expense of wet feet and the inhalation of a 
considerable quantity of a steamy, disagreeable atmo- 
sphere, accomplished the object of our visit. 

"We found the inner apartment into which the chimney-. 
like passage opened to be a room of about from eight to 
ten feet in size, and containing an immense caldron in 
the centre built around with mud and stones. It was 
filled to overflowing with water, from which the steam 
arose in clouds and circulated between a dozen or more 
rafters that were just high enough from the stone floor to 
let one walk upright under them. From what we could 
learn, they did not fill this caldron more than three times 
a day at the utmost, it being so large that the water 
retained its heat several hours. Then, as it cooled 
gradually and lost a portion of its purity with each suc- 
cessive bath, the price of admission decreased to a single 
cash. 

In the corner of this apartment was also a smaller 



248 THE BATH-KEEPER REFUSES A DIME. 

vessel, into which a constant stream of cold water emptied 
through a bamboo joint that kept it in an overflowing 
state unless the bathers were unusually plentiful. From 
this they dipped bucketsful of water, which they carried 
into the next room to have poured over their heads after 
the hot part of the bathing was ended. They would 
hand their two buckets of water to the nearest friend, 
and stoop down on the concave stone flooring, while said 
nearest friend would get as great an elevation as possible 
and pour the contents over them; then the water ran 
through a two or three inch hole in the centre of the 
floor. 

As we concluded our examination of the inner apart- 
ment, and again stooped under the chimneyplace-like 
passage-way into the outer room, we came upon several 
persons of all ages and sexes, who had entered since our 
arrival, and who were then engaged in the process of 
disrobing preparatory to taking a dip in the inner tub. 

Our appearance did not seem to cause them either sur- 
prise or confusion ; but, on the contrary, as we tried to 
prevail on the woman of the house to accept a dime in 
return for what we had seen, they crowded around in 
their primitive costume to see what the dispute was about. 
And here was another demonstration of the despotic 
manner in which the masses are there ruled: that old 
woman made signs to us that were she to accept a single 
cash from us her head would be in danger. And it is 
more than probable that half of those who crowded around 
us were spies, who would have reported her to the Govern- 
ment, had she done so. 

Japan is worse than Jesuitical Rome or iron-heeled 




SM.C-tTrHji'r,. 



IN JAPAN 



WE GET THE BETTER IN AN ARGUMENT. 249 

Austria, as far as her police-department is concerned. 
There the friend spies upon the friend, the relative upon 
the relative. The word confidence is not known among 
them : every thing is caution and suspicion. 

So much for Japanese haths and morals ; and now let 
us pay a visit to the secluded port of Hey-da, to which the 
Russians had retired to avoid discovery by the French 
and English cruisers. When the Japanese found that the 
"old John" was about to go there, they objected vio- 
lently, throwing themselves back upon Commodore 
Perry's treaty, with great apparent regard for its every 
feature, and giving us to understand that if we went to 
Hey-da it would be clearly a piece of bad faith on our 
part, as the treaty expressly provided that Americans 
were to visit no Japanese ports save those of ]^an-ga-sa-ki, 
Ha-ko-da-di, and Si-mo-da. 

To this, Commander John Rodgers replied, with equal 
force and wariness of regard for the provisions of the 
treaty, that, among other things, that instrument permitted 
American vessels in distress to fy for refuge into any 
port of Japan, and that that liberty would be worse than 
useless if we were not to be allowed to make charts of 
all such ports for the benefit of all such distressed 
vessels. 

While running in for refuge, without a chart, he said, 
the vessels might strike upon a sunken rock, or reef, in 
which case they would have done much better to have 
remained outside in the storm. This would be a poor 
kind of protection to extend to American vessels in 
distress. 

Still the Japanese refused : they always refused every 



250 WE VISIT THE SHIPWRECKED RUSSIANS. 

tiling, — even what the treaty expressly provided for ; and 
the only way we ever got along was to do what we 
wished to without asking any questions, and then refer 
them to the treaty for our authority. 

So, if we expected to accomplish any thing by our visit, 
we had to act just as if we had full authority from the 
emperor, or make up our minds to do nothing at all ; and, 
as we had already sailed several thousand miles to get at 
this work, we couldn't well go away without accomplish, 
ing it. So, at it we went, commencing the southern end 
of our survey at Hey-da, on the island of IsTipon, and 
ending at the town of Tomari, on the northern extremity 
of the island of Jesso, — a coast-line of over a thousand 
miles, accomplished through all kinds of weather, and 
against all manner of obstacles that were thrown in our 

o 

way by the cunning of the Japanese. But let us return 
to Hey-da and the shipwrecked Russians. 
''^T)n the morning of the 24th of May, 1855, we left Si- 
mo-da before a light laud-breeze, and, under all sail and 
low steam, worked our way slowly to the southward, 
keeping well in with the land and sketching in its wind- 
ings from point to point. Several Russian oiHcers, who 
had crossed the mountains on foot to Si-mo-da to pay the 
squadron a visit, took passage with us, and added to the 
interest of the trip by pointing out and naming various 
villages that we passed, and indulging us with accounts 
of their experience among the Japanese. 

These accomplished officers and gentlemen mostly 
spoke French fluently, and some of them even under- 
stood our own language quite well. I had always regarded 
Russian officers as rather illiterate and boorish than other- 



VOILA LA FU-SI-YA-MA ! 251 

wise, and was consequently now the more surprised to 
find them our equals in polish as well as in classical and 
scientific acquirements. 

Our time passed pleasantly enough, as we steamed over 
the distance of forty miles, and we were beginning to 
think that some signs of the harbour ought now to be 
heaving in sight, when we suddenly found ourselves 
within a mile of its very mouth. So beautifully was it 
hidden from the sea, that a strange vessel might have 
"backed and filled" about its locality for days without 
imagining the existence of any such place. 

" Voila la Fu-si-ya-ma !" exclaimed one of the Russians, 
pointing far down the coast to a magnificent mountain, 
which, suddenly relieved, by a passing squall, of its dense 
envelop of clouds, now lifted its snowy head far into the 
mid-day sky. 

A magnificent sight it was, truly. Imagine a vast 
truncated cone, whose even slope to the northward was 
washed by the rolling waters of the bay, while its 
southern base dropped gradually back for miles and tens 
of miles into the unknown interior. Its snow-capped crest 
reflecting the weakened rays of the evening sun, its un- 
even belt of constant clouds around its centre, and below 
that the distant blue of its sweeping sides, fill up the pic- 
ture. I say, with the Russians, "Voila la Fu-si-ya-ma!" 

"It is their great object of reverence, I might almost 
say of worship," continued the Russian. "You find it 
stamped upon most of their porcelain and lacquer-ware, 
and hung in tapestry about many of their altars. Its 
sides, that now look so blue, are said to be remarkably 
fertile : its summit is always covered with snow, and is in 



252 SOMETHING TO ADMIRE. 

bad weather generally hidden from view by the clouds 
which hang around it. It serves them also as a very re- 
liable barometer. When several hundred of their boats 
were towing our crippled frigate from Si-mo-da to Hey-da, 
the day was beautifully clear, and we were getting along 
quite smoothly, when suddenly a white cloud hid it from 
our view and threw the whole line of boats into the wildest 
state of confusion. They cast off their lines and pulled 
for the shore in such haste that it was with difficulty that 
we could keep enough with us in which to save ourselves 
and crew. When the hurricane which the white cloud 
indicated broke upon us, we were safe in under the land ; 
but the old Diana foundered in a few minutes. Their 
knowledge of the weather was all that saved us." 

We were now approaching the curved and narrow 
entrance of the harbour ; and, as is usual when entering a 
strange port, all hands mustered on deck with glasses 
and wide-awake eyes, to see what was to be seen, and to 
imagine a great many things which were not to be seen. 
And the changing panorama that presented itself on every 
hand was one well worthy of admiration. The day was as 
calm as a perfectly-motionless atmosphere could make it, 
and just warm enough to make it pleasant. Ahead of 
us there was opening a green and picturesque valley, with 
the locale of its hidden villages indicated by groves of 
closely-planted shade-trees, and with the glassy surface 
of a winding stream breaking out here and there and 
reflecting the slanting rays of the western sun. On our 
left, the southern range of mountains that formed one 
wall of the valley stretched their broken length down 
into the very sea, lifting their uneven ridge several hun- 



HEY-DA VS. SI-MO-DA. 253 

died feet above its level, and telling the mariner of bold 
water along their rugged sides and friendly shelter under 
their protecting breasts. 

On the right, a long, low, and curved fragment of land, 
some one or two hundred yards in width, and densely 
covered with the heaviest timber, stretched itself from 
the northern shore toward the mountain-range already 
alluded to, coming to an abrupt termination just in time 
to leave a passage of fair width opening into the inner 
harbour, and forming, with the remaining shore-line, a 
magnificent anchorage, in shape something like the num- 
ber 6. Then, to complete the panorama, astern of us, 
miles away upon the clearly-defined horizon, where the 
dark blue of the sea and the azure hue of the heavens 
joined to limit the circle of vision, loomed out the undu- 
lating land that, stretching far out into the sea from the 
downward slope of Fu-si-ya-ma's northern side, formed a 
horseshoe bay of huge dimensions, whose unknown shores 
might, to our excited fancies, have contained a dozen such 
quiet anchorages as the one we were now entering. 

Reader, if you have ever entered a quiet, millpond-like 
harbour after a week or more of hard and stormy wea- 
ther, you can well imagine our feelings as we rounded up 
into this landlocked little cove, which was so perfectly- 
protected that not even a ripple was to be seen upon the 
cool and shady-looking beach. It was so totally different 
a harbour from that of Si-mo-da, so infinitely superior in 
every respect, that we could not restrain the exclamation, 
— " Oh, if Commodore Perry had but selected this as 
one of his three ports of entry, ships arriving at Japan 
would at any rate be assured of safety from the elements, 



254 THE RIGHT WAY TO TREAT THE JAPANESE. 

if nothing else." We wondered in vain why Si-mo-da 
had been chosen when Hey-da was so near; and we have 
not yet ceased to wonder. 

As we steamed slowly up into this figure-of-six har- 
bour, the Russian boats, which had been saved when the 
Diana foundered, were seen safely moored along the quiet 
beach ; but the Russians themselves were nowhere to be 
noticed. They subsequently acknowledged that they had 
taken us for an English or French steamer under Ame- 
rican colours, and repeated the oft-complained-of proceed- 
ing of the former, who had entered the harbour of Petro- 
polowski with our flag at their peak, made a hasty survey 
of it, and then put up their helm and steamed out again 
while hoisting their true colours and firing a gun in bra- 
vado. "We had not seen the act ourselves, but had heard 
of it so often that we finally began to regard it as having 
taken place beyond a doubt. 

As soon as we had let go our anchor, the captain's gig 
was placed at the disposal of our passengers, and after 
they had been on shore a few minutes we began to see 
swarms of their countrymen crowding the beach, many 
of whom came off in their boats to extend the civilities 
of the port to us. One would have imagined it a posses- 
sion of the Czar instead of a Japanese seaport town, so 
completely had the Russians made themselves at home. 
They laughed at the idea of our not visiting them at their 
quarters because the Japanese objected to it, and offered 
to take us in their boats if we wished to respect their 
foolish fancies. 

That night we had them, as well as several Japanese 
of rank, on board, and introduced them to a bowl of hot 



SOMETHING MORE ABOUT SWORDS. 255 

wliiskey punch; and, as this latter disappeared, we ac- 
quired considerable information of their nation at large, 
from the Japanese, through the Russians, some of whom 
had already made considerable progress in the language. 

Among other things, we learned one of the great se- 
crets in regard to the beauty and remarkable polish of 
their swords. It was not every Japanese sword that was 
good, the vice-governor told us: it was only a- certain 
number, that had been made by a workman who lived 
A.D. 1750, that were so highly prized : any others could 
be had for a trifle, — from ten to thirty dollars. 

The old fellow had drank pretty freely of the punch 
before expressing himself thus liberally, and another 
glass or two upset his reserve and dignity completel}'-. 
He slapped us on the back in a most "hail-fellow-well- 
met" style, and drew his sword when requested, without 
the slightest hesitation. This latter was certainly the most 
beautiful specimen of steel that I ever saw : put any light 
fabric across it and sweep your arm through the air, and 
its divided parts floated upon the disturbed atmosphere. 
The governor seemed unusually proud of this sword : it 
, was made, he told us, by the great maker of 1750, and 
had come to him from his father, who had long since re- 
tired from public life. I tried to ascertain if swords, &c. 
fell to the lot of the eldest son in Japan, but failed to 
convey the question in an intelligible form. 

The party broke up at a late hour, and the next day 
was devoted to the survey of the harbour, which being 
accomplished, the restless anchor once more appeared at 
the cathead, and the " old John" again pointed herself for 
the sea. 



256 A PRACTICAL EVIDENCE OF ZEAL. 

That evening we were again at Si-mo-da, the Japanese 
appearing not to care a farthing about our having visited 
Hey-da, although they had opposed it so violently before 
it was accomplished. 

Our stay at Si-mo-da was now drawing to a close. We 
had resurveyed the harbour, compared our work with 
the chart of Lieutenants Maury and Bent, of Perry's 
squadron, and found that the destructive earthquake and 
its attendant sea-wave which had reduced Si-mo-da to 
ruins since the visit of that squadron had not perceptibly 
altered its formation or soundings. 

As an evidence of the zeal by which both officers and 
men were filled during this cruise, I will remark that, 
about this time, the idea of exploring and surveying the 
coast of Nipon from Si-mo-da to the northeast point of 
the island, and then crossing the stormy Straits of 
T'Sugar to Ha-ko-da-di, island of Jesso, in an open boat, 
was originated by some one and subsequently executed 
with happy success. The coast-line to be thus examined 
was nearly five hundred miles in length, their charts 
were very unreliable, and it was the season when violent 
gales were likely to cross their track at any moment. It 
was undoubtedly a most hazardous undertaking. 

As soon as the expedition was proposed, volunteers 
sprang forward from every quarter, and, as soon as the 
officers and crew were selected, the boat was prepared 
for the unusual service and proclaimed readj" for sea. 

She was the largest boat carried by the Vincennes, 
was known as "the launch," and measured probably 
from four to five tons. They had built a light forecastle- 
deck forward, knocked up a few lockers aft, and rigged 



THE VINCENNES, JR. 257 

her as a sloop. She carried a twelve-pounder boat- 
howitzer on a pivot, one or two boxes of fixed ammuni- 
tion, a change of clothes for each man, and the regular 
Government-ration of beef and pork, bread, rice, whiskey, 
&c. for twenty-one days. Her crew numbered from fif- 
teen to twenty souls, all armed to the teeth and ready to 
go anywhere in spite of any thing the Japanese might say 
or do ; for these latter, with their usual annoying policy, 
had strongly objected to such a thing as a boat of light 
draught running into all the nooks and corners where a 
large vessel could not go, and it was therefore necessary 
to do it against their wishes. 

Of course we would not have persisted at the expense 
of life, but then we knew well enough that the Japanese 
were like a large, savage, but quiescent dog: walk by 
him in a quiet, cool, unconcerned manner, and he will 
probably content himself with keeping his eye upon you ; 
whereas, if you hesitate in your advance, he will more 
than probably spring at your throat 

And thus it was with them and us. As soon as we 
stopped to show them the consideration of asking their 
consent to the most simple measure, they would begin to 
clear their throats and advance more difficulties than an 
ordinary man could think of in double the time; and 
these difficulties were always so trivial, and the desire to 
bother and retard us so apparent, that we generally left 
them in anger and did what we had in view, without the 
slightest regard to them or their opposition. 

The launch was now dubbed the "Yincennes, Jr.," 
and put under the command of Acting Lieutenant John 

M. Brooke, of the Vincennes, Sen., who had associated 

17 



258 UNPLEASANT NAVIGATION. 

with him in the risky undertaking Messrs. Edward Kern, 
artist, and Richard Berry, sailmaker, in addition to the 
regular crew. 

Finally, the day of sailing arrived, and we all put to 
sea, leaving the nomadics, their schooner, — which had 
now returned from Petropolowski, — and Cavilosky, the 
Russian, in charge of the harhour. The Hancock sur- 
veyed a group of islands on her route and then made 
the best of her way toward Ha-ko-da-di. Arrived near 
the northeast point of IsTipon, we fell in with fogs and 
heavy weather, which made the navigation any thing but 
safe. Let me turn to my journal for an idea of this un- 
pleasant navigation : — 

" We were running along the northeastern coast of the 
island of Nipon, under both sail and steam, had had no 
observations for some days, were enveloped in a fog that 
might apparently have been 'cut with a knife,' knew 
that strong and unknown currents swept around us, had 
no chart from which to get even an idea of said northeast- 
ern coast, were any thing but certain as to our locality, 
felt that a gale of wind was coming down upon us, and 
were nervously anxious to reach shelter in the harbour 
of Ha-ko-da-di before night. This harbour was supi^osed 
to be some fifty miles off; that was where our dead 
reckoning placed it : but then dead reckoning was pro- 
verbially unreliable, and the unknown currents already 
alluded to only added to this uncertainty. We were 
steering what we also supposed to be the right course to 
make the northeast point of ]^ipon, before starting to 
cross the straits that separated it from Jesso, so that we 
might use it as a fresh starting-point in finding our way 



"■ WHEKE ARE WE RUNNING TO? 259 

through the fog; but we had expected to discover it 
before breakfast, and it was now getting toward noon, 
and there was still nothing to be seen but fog, fog, and 
occasionally a heavy-winged sea-bird breaking through 
its dense folds, hovering over us for a moment, and then 
darting away from sight as suddenly as it had appeared. 

"We were going along very fast, too, for the 'old 
John,' — at least eight or nine knots the hour; for the 
wind and sea were both astern, and, like any other col- 
lection of matter, she could not have stood still under 
such circumstances had she been so disposed. Besides, 
we had also got up steam that morning, and the boiling 
water under her Dutch galliot-like stern told that the 
propeller was also lending a hand to urge her ahead. !N"o 
wonder, then, that she waddled along through the water 
and fog at the above unusual rate. 

" This unusual rate was a very pleasant thing as long 
as we had reason to suppose that we were steering the 
right course, for the faster we went on said right course 
the sooner we should arrive at our port of shelter ; but, 
after we had run for an hour or two beyond the time 
when we should have sighted the northeast point, we 
began to get anxious and to fear that we might be run- 
ning blindfold toward some rock beyond the cape, or 
upon some shelterless lee shore, which might at any mo- 
ment be discovered with unpleasant suddenness ; in either 
of which cases it would have been a ' clew up and furl' 
game with the 'old John' and all connected with her. 
The captain and Carnes, therefore, put their heads toge- 
ther over the imperfect chart, and concluded to change 
our course so as to sight the land along which we were 



260 PORT ! HAR-R-R-D A-PORT ! 

running, and which we kiiew to be to the westward of us, 
though how far we could only conjecture 

"The helm was therefore put to starboard; some of 
the lighter sails were taken in ; the others were braced 
for the wind on the port beam, and every thing kept in 
active readiness to change back to our old course as 
soon as the land should be discovered ahead. In this 
way we ran on for an hour or more, the first lieutenant 
having the trumpet on the quarter-deck, the officer of 
the deck, whom he had relieved, being in charge of the 
forecastle, to help the look-outs keep their eyes open, 
and to superintend things in general in case of the 
sudden change of course which was momentarily ex- 
pected, and the crew being at their stations for ' wearing 
ship.' 

" Suddenly, a seaman by the name of Corcoran, — 
with whom Dickens must have been acquainted before 
creating his character of 'Bunsby,' — and who stood 
near the officer in charge of the forecastle, looked very 
wise, and said he heard the breakers. This caused every 
one to listen intently and open their eyes still wider ; but 
they heard nothing. Presently he said he saw them ; 
and, as others now heard them just as he said he saw 
them, the officer in charge took his word for it, and 
bellowed out to the quarter-deck, ' Port ! har-r-r-d a-port ! 
Breakers ahead !' and, as the ship fell rapidly off under 
the influence of both propeller and sails, a long white 
line of boiling surf appeared along our port bow and 
beam, and caused us to congratulate ourselves upon the 
sharp senses of ' Bunsby.' 

"The deep-sea lead, which had been kept going as 



KEEP A BRIGHT LOOK-OUT AHEAD ! 201 

fast as it could be hauled in since our change of course, 
now gave fifteen fathoms as the depth of water! and, 
as the beach was not more than four hundred yards off, 
we did not think it prudent to close in any more, but 
ran along with it at about that depth and distance, 
keeping a good look-out on each cathead and a hand- 
lead going from each of the fore-chains. 

"As we had closed with the land while standing in, 
the fog had seemed to lighten considerably, and we now 
ran along at our old speed, keeping the breakers just in 
sight, and straining our eyes through the fog ahead to 
discover our long-looked-for northeast point. This was 
a most trying kind of navigation. For, suppose that we 
should have been running before that wind and sea into 
a fathomless bay, where we could not have anchored ; or 
suppose a reef had suddenly been found, making out 
from the land right across our path ! 

" ' Haul by the wind and beat out of such a dis- 
agreeably-tight place,' I think I hear some seaman 
answer. 

"'Yes; that would do very well; but, unfortunately, 
the ' old John' could never be persuaded to acquit her- 
self after that style,' is my answer. She was like a crab: 
she always went astern or sideways in all sudden emer- 
gencies, — confound her ! Suddenly, as we looked, the 
vague and undefined outlines of a dark detached object 
arose before us, and then another, farther in the fog, as 
the first became more distant. 

"'Land ho!' sang out the look-out. 'Two islands 
right ahead, sir!' shouted the officer in charge of the 
forecastle. 



262 BREAKERS AHEAD ! ANOTHER TIGHT PLACE. 

"'Port!' said the ready voice of the first lieutenant 
to the man at the wheel. ' Brace up the head-yards ! 
Quartermaster, let the captain know there's land re- 
ported ahead.' 

"'Ay, ay, sir!' and, as the messenger disappeared 
down the cabin-hatch, the old ship, as if conscious of 
her danger, swerved slowly from her course until she 
brought the newly-discovered objects out upon her lee 
bow. 

" ' Steady there !' exclaimed the first lieutenant. ' How 
do you head now ?' 

" ' Nor'-nor'east, sir,' replied the helmsman, as he 
'met her' with the lee wheel and fired an admirable 
shot at a distant spittoon. 

" 'Very well. Keep her so. 

" 'Ay, ay, sir.' 

"The after-yards were now braced for the wind on 
the starboard quarter, and we were soon running on 
our new course with but slightly-diminished speed. 

" ' That's the point we're looking for,' said Carnes : ' I 
know it by those islands. We're all right now.' 

" ' Breakers ahead ! breakers on the weather bow !' 
shouted the startled voices of both look-outs at this 
moment. 

" ' Haul by the wind, Mr. McCullom,' said the captain, 
who now came on deck, 'and take in the topgallant-sails.' 

" So we hauled by the wind, took in topgallant-sails, 
and passed the word to fire up strong. The poor ' old 
John' was apparently in another of her endless 'tight 
places,' and steam was the only thing we could ever 
hope to help her with. 



WHAT DO YOU THINK OF IT? 263 

"We were now 'by the wind,' with the beach along 
which we had been running looming up upon our 
weather quarter and astern, with the three islands (an- 
other having come out of the fog as we neared them) 
on our lee quarter, and with what was an apparent 
reef of rocks, over which the surf was breaking furiously, 
extending from the outer of the three islands along our 
lee beam and well forward on the lee bow, — almost dead 
ahead, in fact. The wind also had increased to a young 
gale ; that is, we felt its force much more then, that we 
were no longer running away from it ; and, had we not 
got in the topgallant-sails as soon as we did, the masts 
would certainly have gone over the side. Our headway, 
too, was entirely deadened, and, in spite of the assisting 
propeller, it soon became apparent that we were drifting 
on to the reef. 

"'What do you think of it, Mr. Carnes?' asked the 
captain. ' Is it a reef, or only the strong current break- 
ing around the point ? The sailing-directions speak of 
three islands, but of no reef.' 

"'It looks miserably natural, sir,' replied the master, 
as he continued regarding it through his opera-glass;* 
' but I don't see how it can well be any thing, if this is 
the northeast point : that's the difficulty.' 

"We were at this moment in a painful state of doubt 
and uncertainty, and would have gladly hesitated, had it 
only been to gain time to think ; but, as we were all the 
while drifting toward the reef, immediate action was 
what was wanted. Fortunately for our peace of mind, 

* Opera-glasses are rapidly superseding the ordinary "spy-glass" on 
ship-board, especially at night. 



264 "bunsby" on sparrows and tailors. 

the fog lifted while we were yet talking, and enabled us 
to discern other objects that established pretty well the 
fact of its being the point, when we at once knew that 
the reef must be but a tide-rip, and so determined to run 
through it. 

" 'I'd trust to the sailing-direction for there being no 
reef off this point, and run through it,' said the master. 

" 'So we will!' said the captain. 'Hard up the helm, 
Mr. McCullom, and point her for it. 

" So the helm was put hard up, and in less than three 
minutes more we were entering the threatening streak, 
carrying no bottom at thirty fathoms all the while, and 
with the leaping waters breaking over our bulwarks in 
all directions, and in such quantities as to cause us to 
tremble for the safety of the Vincennes, Jr., whom we 
knew would have to round that same point in a few days, 
and under, possibl}^, similar or worse circumstances. 
Another minute, and the supposed danger was behind 
us, when we again breathed freely, set the topgallant- 
sails, royals, and all studding-sails, and shaped our course 
for Ha-ko-da-di at the rate of ten and a half miles the 
hour. It was a strange thing for our old craft to be 
moving at that rate, and I am almost afraid to tell of it ; 
but then it must be remembered that we were under all 
sail and steam, and that a rising gale of wind was follow- 
ing us in its squally strength. 

"'lYell! I never seed such cruisin' as this,' remarked 
Bunsby, as he turned over his tobacco and looked back 
at the surf-like tide-rip that crossed our track. 'If the 
Lord, that looks out for sparrows and tailors, a'n't got 
this old thing under his speacil wing, I don't know.' 



WE RUN ON SHORE. 265 

" A general laugh followed this characteristic ebullition. 
Bunsby had long since become the acknowledged ' ship's 
growler.' We subsequently returned to this point, and 
made a perfect survey of it, as well as of the entire 
straits. « 

"We were now but some forty miles from our port, — 
the diagonal width of the Straits of T'Sugar, — and, 
could we but keep up our then speed for seven or eight 
hours, we should get in that -night. So we held on to the 
straining canvas and kept up full steam, for there was a 
five or six knot current running against us ; and, though 
the gale continued to increase, and consequently to urge 
us ahead at a more headlong pace than ever, still, it also 
created a very high and dangerous 'chop-sea,' which 
broke continually over our bulwarks, flooding our decks, 
and in one case filling a quarter-boat so full as to create 
fears for her safety. We a^ain thought of the poor little 
Vincennes, Jr., of her brave and adventurous officers an.d 
crew, and wished them safely across a passage which was 
often threatening the safety of even a ship of our size. 

" That night we reached our destination in safety, but we 
had a hard run of it ; and, if we had been forced to pass 
the next twelve hours in darkness and at the mercy of that 
gale and six-knot current, there is no telling where the 
thirteenth hour would have found us. As it was, we 
got a glimpse — and it was only a glimpse of a moment's 
duration — of the promontory of Ha-ko-da-di, just as the 
twilight was leaving us ; and then we ran in after dark by 
guess-work. It is not surprising, therefore, that we should 
have run on shore, which we actually did do, though it was 
fortunately well inside of the capacious bay, where the 



266 SAFE ARRIVAL OF THE VINCENNES, JR. 

water was smooth and tlie mud soft. That same night, 
however, we hauled off again, and the next morning 
steamed up to the regular anchorage off the town, where 
our store-brig, an American whaling-brig, and an English 
surveying-schooner, were quietly stowed away among a 
fleet of the clumsy-looking Japanese junks." 

As day by day now rolled on, bringing in first the Yin- 
cennes, and then the Cooper, we continued to tremble for 
the missing launch, and to think that the risk had been 
almost too great. 

Finally, she arrived, to our great satisfaction ; and the 
next day brought in the nomadics also, who told us that 
couriers had arrived daily at Si-mo-da after our departure, 
reporting the launch at her various stopping-places along 
the coast, and causing the officials a vast deal of annoy- 
ance. Here is what we learned from the combined gossip 
of the two vessels. My journal says: — 

"The Yincennes, Jr., left Si-mo-da on the morning of 
a fine day, and for some time had a continuation of plea- 
sant weather and easy sailing. They passed the first 
night in a small bay some miles above Si-mo-da, with 
their boat anchored near the beach and their tent pitched 
upon a grassy knoll, before which a bright fire was soon 
kindled and a warm supper subsequently discussed. The 
natives of a small village near at hand received them 
quite civilly, but took care to send a courier over to Si- 
mo-da, reporting their arrival and asking for instructions 
as to what they should do. The arrival of this messenger 
at Si-mo-da is said to have caused no little annoyance to 
the pompous officials before whom he presented himself, 
and they immediately started Tatz-nosky in hot haste to 



TATZ-NOSKY RIDES POST. 267 

drive our explorers to sea. They had no difficulty in 
recognising the launch, from the drawing which was 
sent of her, as the boat which had left their harbour 
in the morning, and to which they refused permission 
to survey along their coast. Tatz-nosky rode upon 
a Government-horse, and doubtless ' used him' as hard 
as Government-horses are generally used under similar 
circumstances; but, when he arrived at the end of his 
journey, the Vincennes, Jr., had stood out to sea, ami^ 
he had the pleasure of riding back again, j Had he been 
a well-read European, he would doubtless have hummed 
upon his return-journey the once-popular ditty of which 
this is a part : — 

" ' The King of France, with twenty thousand men, 
March'd up a hill, and then march'd down again.' 

" Our explorers were equally fortunate on the second 
evening of their cruise, so far as passing a quiet night was 
concerned. They found another little cove, into which 
they retreated before the approach of a squally night, and 
entailed a long ride upon a second courier; which, in 
turn, mounted poor Tatz-nosky again upon his Govern- 
ment-hack. But he had not proceeded half-way on his 
road this time before he was met by a third courier, who 
informed him that their visitors had departed with the 
early dawn. They were like the Irishman's flea : — ' put 
your finger on him, and he isn't there.' 

" In this way they cruised along quite smoothly, making 
good time during the day before favourable winds, and 
seeking shelter at night in quiet little coves which they 
generally were so fortunate as to fall in with toward 



268 GREAT PERIL OP THE VINCENNES, JR. 

evening. After a while, however, ' a change came o'er 
the spirit of their dream,' in the shape of a gale of wind, 
when they would fain have run into some of the ' quiet 
coves' that had befriended them so far ; but unfortunately 
they had arrived at a long stretch of iron-bound coast by 
that time, that warned them that their greatest safety now 
consisted in keeping at a reasonable distance from the 
land : so they had to work through it as best they could, 
eating cold and uncooked provisions, being knocked 
about in a most dangerous manner by the heavy seas, 
and passing altogether any thing but a pleasant time. 

"Now, as long as that state of things lasted, they were 
in great danger; but they were fortunately included 
among Bunsby's tailors and sparrows, and got to the end 
of the iron-bound coast in safety, after having narrowly 
escaped foundering one unusually stormy night. The 
heavy weather still continued, however, and made the 
rest of the passage rough and dangerous in the extreme : 
still, they accomplished it with safety, if not comfort, as 
far as the northeast point, where they encountered the 
tide-rip which had caused us of the ' old John' so much 
annoyance, but which their little craft then crossed quite 
easily, there being only a moderate breeze by that time, 
while we had had a gale following us. 

"In short, she arrived safely in Ha-ko-da-di on her 
twenty-first night out, much to our relief and greatly to 
the surprise of the Japanese fishermen, who wondered 
greatly to see a craft of her size cruising along their 
stormy coasts. That same day she was unrigged and 
hoisted into the Vincennes again, and thus was her 
perilous voyage happily terminated. The foregoing is a 



OUR LAST SUPPLY OF COAL AND PROVISIONS. 269 

very fair specimen of the manner in which we were often 
exposed during that surveying cruise around the world." 
We were now to remain about Ha-ko-da-di from fifteen 
to twenty days, taking in coal and salt provisions from the 
Hamburg brig Greta, which we had chartered at Hong- 
Kong to meet us at this point, and surveying the harbour 
and Straits of T' Sugar, (erroneously pronounced Sangar,) 
after which we were to separate to meet no more until 
our arrival at San Francisco. 



CHAPTEH XV. 

HOW BEASS BUTTONS AKB VALUED IN JAPAN, AND HOW PAETKIDGBS ARE 
THERE TRANSFORMED INTO SINGING-BIRDS — HOW WE VISITED A SEA- 
GOD's temple, and HOW A GERMAN EXPLORER PREFERRED REMAINING 
OUTSIDE — HOW SOME AMERICANS LEANED ON COMMODORE PERRT'S 
TREATY, AND HOW IT GAVE WAY UNDER THEM, 

We found Ha-ko-da-di a very different place from Si- 
mo-da, — at least treble its size, and situated at the foot of 
a curved and towering promontory, which, joined to the 
main by a long low neck of land, forms one of the 
largest and finest harbours in the world. 

We now turned our attention to the Greta, and several 
days were devoted to transferring her cargo of coal to 
our exhausted bunkers and replenishing our supplies of 
provisions for the use of the crew. As for ourselves, — 
the ofB.cers, — there was no such luck in store. During 
this time we walked over most of the surrounding coun- 
try, to the infinite terror of old women and small chil- 
dren, and made daily hauls with our seine along the 
inner shore of the bay, to the great annoyance of the 
Japanese authorities and to our own especial edification 
about meal-hours. 

During one of these walks, Hartman and myself bar- 
tered away a number of brass buttons for several articles 
of religious worship, and returned on board in high glee. 

The next day the doctor, while upon a similar excursion, 
270 



HOW THEY VALUE BRASS BUTTONS. 271 

met a countryman with a wicker-basket containing ten or 
a dozen fine plump partridges ; and, as they were eating 
which we had not enjoyed for many months, he hauled 
out several silver dollars on the spur of the moment and 
offered to "buy the lot." The man refused, however, 
and was walking off, when some one exclaimed, " Try 
him with the buttons !" at which the doctor hauled out a 
handful of them and made signs that he would barter. 
The fellow now halted, and, after examining them, inti- 
mated that he would give a partridge for a button, and, to 
the delight of the party, handed over the entire basket for 
a dozen or so of buttons. The next day they were eaten 
with great gusto, and, just as we got up from the table, a 
high officer came on board with the interpreter, and com- 
plained that " some Americans had been many miles 
back in the country and bought some poor people's 
household gods, and that another party had forced a poor 
man to sell them all of his singing-birds :" at the end of 
which he hauled out every button that we had traded, re- 
turning them to the captain, and requested that the 
"household gods" and "singing-birds" be returned. 

Now, here is a beautiful specimen of the cunning of 
those people. There was an abundance of partridges 
on the island of Jesso ; and, had that officer come on 
board and demanded the return of a poor man's birds, 
we should have said, "Why do not you officers provide 
us birds to eat?" and he could have answered nothing: 
whereas, when we now asked the question, he shrugged 
his shoulders, and said singing-birds were never eaten. 

Fortunately it was too late to return them ; but, the 
captain having asked Hartman and myself seriously in 



272 THEY OBJECT TO OUR HAULING THE SEINE. 

regard to the household gods, we could not deny that we 
were the parties, and were consequently requested to give 
them up. 'We had great luck in seine-hauling, and this, 
too, seemed to trouble them considerably. They evi- 
dently envied us the boat-loads of fine salmon, trout, 
perch, and flounders which we daily carried on board, 
and determined to stop the sport. They told the captain 
that the people in and about Ha-ko-da-di were very 
poor; that they lived almost entirely upon fish, and 
that if we went on in that way much longer they would 
be in a starving condition. This was simply absurd, as 
there were dozens of their own seines being hauled in 
the harbour every day, and one of theirs was as large as 
half a dozen of ours would have been. Probably " absurd" 
is too mild a term; but, as I am "talking behind their 
backs" as it were, I will content myself with it. 

The captain replied carelessly that if they would sell us 
what fish we wanted the seine should be used no more, but 
that if worthless or half-decayed fish were sent they would 
be thrown overboard and a seining-party sent on shore 
at once. To this the high officer replied that we should 
thereafter be regularly supplied with fine fresh salmon ; 
and the next day he sent on board three of that kind of 
fish, which looked very well at a distance, but which we 
refused to accept upon a closer inspection, as their gills 
were already turning green and four dollars were asked 
for them. They were consequently thrown overboard 
and the seining-party once more landed on the beach. 

We had not got our first haul half-way on shore when 
several two-sworded officials, attended by some ten or fif- 
teen inferiors, gathered about the spot, apparently actu- 



ANOTHER KICKING-MATCH. 273 

ated only by curiosity. After a while, however, they took 
it upon themselves to drive off some poor people who 
were picking up the refuse fish, at which I beckoned to 
the three men nearest me, and — considerably emboldened 
by the action of " the prophet" at Si-mo-da — gave the 
officers several hearty kicks, when they ran off in great 
confusion, tripping over their swords and being followed 
by their ten or fifteen attendants. We then called the 
poor people back, one of whom was so delighted at the 
turn which things had taken that he at once commenced 
eating his fish raw, to our extreme disgust. He would 
pick a six-inch fellow up out of the sand by the tail, give 
him a flirt through the water to wash the sand off, and 
then commence by biting off the entire head, after which 
he went regularly down to the tail, which he only threw 
away to enable him to grasp another. In justice to the 
Japanese at large, however, I must say that this was the 
only thing of the kind we ever saw. 

The kicking which we had administered to the officials 
seemed to have had the desired effect. They did not re- 
appear to trouble us, and we shortly returned on board 
with a well-loaded boat, and continued our sport daily as 
long as we remained. In this way one boat and a dozen 
men supplied our entire ship's-company with fine fish; 
while, had we consented to be browbeaten by the arro- 
gant officials, they would have furnished us an uncertain 
and stale supply at a greater cost than a butcher in the 
United States would charge for supplying a ship's crew 
with beef and vegetables. 

At Ha-ko-da-di we found public bathing conducted 
exactly as at Si-mo-da, and in all other respects the people 

18 



274 WE PREPARE TO VISIT A SEA-GOD's TEMPLE. 

seemed similar. As a matter of course they were even 
more wild, for they had seen less of foreigners ; and, if 
possible, the two-sworded gentlemen evinced a stronger 
disposition to follow our tracks, but one or two properly- 
applied kicks soon cured them of that weakness. 

We found several objects of interest around the shores 
of this magnificent bay, the most prominent of which 
was a marine cave of vast dimensions chambered out of 
the rocky breast of the towering and surf-worn promon- 
tory of Ha-ko-da-di by some past convulsion of nature, 
and now dedicated by the Japanese fishermen to their 
sea-god, whose aid they there invoke to calm the raging 
of the sea or to bless their coast with endless shoals of 
salmon. The very existence of this half-submarine, half- 
subterranean place of worship would probably have 
never been known to us had our ship been any thing but 
a surveying-vessel ; but the nature of the service required 
at our hands took us everywhere, and, if the "old John" 
couldn't go herself, she sent one or more of her six boats 
to act for her. 

It was in this way that the archlike entrance to the 
cave was discovered, — one of our boats, while engaged in 
the survey of the harbour, having entered just far enough 
to determine that it was a cave, and one. too, of no incon- 
siderable extent. As soon, therefore, as the survey was 
completed, an exploring-party was organized to enter and 
examine it thoroughly, and to that end quite extensive 
preparations were necessary. 

It was reported as being horribly dark, even at the 
mouth, could only be entered in a boat, and that the roar- 
ing of a heavy surf or waterfall had been heard from the 



WHAT SOME OP US HAD BETTER DO. 275 

outside. Our informant also stated that a heavy swell 
rolled into it, that its rocky mouth was whitened by a 
sulphurous vapour, and that, from the current which set 
into it, there was evidently another outlet : should this 
other outlet prove to be a whirlpool, or even an ordinary 
waterfall, a boat-load of human beings, without light and 
utterly ignorant of the locality, would find themselves 
most unpleasantly situated. We consequently armed 
ourselves with lanterns, matches, lines, knives, hammer 
and nails, &c. before leaving the ship, and, as the crew 
had been worked hard lately, took the dingy and her two 
boys to pull us to the scene of action. 

The party consisted of nine, all told, — quite enough to 
crowd into a small boat that was going to feel her way, 
through a darkness like that of night, to the bottom of 
an unknown cave. Six of us were officers of the ship, a 
seventh was the German supercargo of the Greta, and 
the remaining two were the dingy-boys, — the same two 
dangerously-encased juveniles who had landed Mahomet, 
Bridleman, and myself so successfully at Si-mo-da upon 
the occasion of the former persuading the mountain to 
"move off" in a southerly direction. 

Our German friend was quite talkative at first, indulg- 
ing us with vivid descriptions of various European caves 
which he had explored in early life, and enlarging upon 
the feelings of intense interest which such enterprises 
were calculated to create in the inquiring mind. As we 
drew near to the cave, however, he became rather taciturn 
than otherwise, and, as we reached its mouth and the 
order was given to "hold water" with the oars while 
the plan of procedure Was being determined upon, he 



276 ONE OF THE PARTY DOES NOT LIKE IT. 

hazarded tlie remark that " some vones more better make 
stops outside ze rocks, vile ze uzzer vones goes in;" but 
in this he was overruled at once, and, a deep-sea lead-line 
having been securely fastened to a projecting fragment 
of rock, we backed boldly in under the gloomy and re- 
sounding archway. Keeping a light strain on the line, to 
"hold on by" should the possible whirlpool prove a 
reality, the oars were taken in, and, with boat-hooks and 
hands, we urged her cautiously through the thickening 
gloom. 

And now the German proved to be right in one thing. 
It was "intensely interesting to our inquiring minds," as 
the boat dropped slowly away from daylight, rising and 
falling over the heavy swell and grating harshly against 
unseen projections of the rocky sides. "We began to 
think that the roof of the archway might get lower with 
unpleasant suddenness as we progressed, and that the next 
swell might inform us of the fact by mashing our heads 
against it ; for it was so very dark that, even with our 
lights, we could not see the rugged walls against which 
we were scraping. The feeling at last became so intensely 
interesting to the supercargo himself, that he again be- 
came communicative. "Yel! vel! I don't loiks zis!" he 
said, nervously; "much better take some vone out of ze 
boat. 'Tis var small boat for so many peoples. I vaits 
outside for some time. I not loiks zis." 

I must confess that I didn't "loik" it myself; and the 
feeling, passing down into my fingers, caused them to 
tighten their grasp around the line, until the boat came 
to a stand-still. 

"Hillo! what's the matter?" asked Carnes. 



SQUIKES THINKS HE KNOWS WHAT HE'S ABOUT. 277 

"Slack the line, H , and let her go in," said the 

doctor. (Said H , who was seated in the bows, with 

his feet braced firmly against the stem, thought he'd 
much better hold on to the line until he could see where 
he was going to slack her to.) 

"I feel bottom!" exclaimed Squires, who was leaning 
over the side with a boat-hook. 

"You feel the mischief!" said Lawton. "You're feel- 
ing the boat's bottom." 

"I suppose I know what I'm about!" retorted the in- 
dignant feeler: "darkness don't keep one from, feeling." 

"I not loiks it!" broke in the German; "much better 
vone, two, three, at vonce. Boat var small." 

"Well, let's haul out again and leave half on the 
rocks," said another, who evidently began to think with 
him. 

"Well, all right!" exclaimed several more of the party. 
I didn't say much, but hung back on the line with such 
effect as to change night into day in a most amazingly 
short space of time. I didn't like the gurgling noises in 
our rear: they sounded too much like a subterranean 
watercourse to make it pleasant. 

" Yel, I gets out," said the German, as we ranged up 
alongside of the entrance. 

"Oh, no! you'd better hold on," said he who had 
accused Squires of feeling the boat's bottom. 

"ISTo, but I loiks better here," replied the former 
explorer of European caves, as he jumped upon the 
rocks and advised that "vone, two, three, more better at 
vonce." 

One by one the party followed his example, until there 



278 EXCITEMENT, DARKNESS, AND BATS. 

were but four of us left to make the second attempt, — 
the doctor, the master, he who had accused him of the 
boat-hook of feeling the wrong bottom, and myself. 

Backing in as before, we progressed backward quite 
smoothly until arrived near our former stopping-place, 
when the doctor wisely remarked that "we'd better hold 
on a minute until our eyes became accustomed to the 
darkness: probably we might be able to see." So my 
fingers again tautened around the line, and the party 
came to another halt. The wisdom of this proceeding 
soon made itself apparent, and then we began to wonder 
why some one hadn't thought of it before. The dark 
outlines of a vast and dome-like apartment became now 
every moment more distinct, until, with the assistance of 
our lights, we could see passably well. "Humph!" said 
one; "there's no whirlpool, after all: it's only the surf 
rolling in among the rocks." "I don't believe there's 
any current sets in, either: it's all humbug," said another. 
"Give her a shove astern, H ." 

So I slackened the line, and, trusting to the eyes in the 
other end of the boat, gave her a most energetic shove. 

"There it is!" "iVb?/; we're in for it!" "TVzm boat!" 
" Haul out, H !" " Confound the bats !" 

These confused and excited exclamations were the re- 
sult of three things. The "energetic shove" had landed 
the old boat's stern on a sunken rock, which we subse- 
quently found to be located exactly in mid-channel. Se- 
condly, the swell leaving her there, she canted over and 
came within an ace of spilling us all out. Lanterns were 
let fall, the better to enable their holders to look out for 
"E'o. 1," and the candles took advantage of the occasion 



WE SUCCEED AFTER A TERRIBLE FRIGHT. 279 

to go out. Thirdly, a hundred or more bats, alarmed by 
such unusual noises, left their various stow-holes, and, 
flying in our faces, added their disgusting contact to the 
general drawbacks of the adventure. I began to wish 
myself with the German, and, in order to gratify the 
longing, hauled heavily on the ever-friendly line, and 
with the next swell we righted to an even keel and 
surged ahead clear of the rock. "We were no sooner 
again upright, however, than our courage returned, and 
we came to another halt and began feeling about for the 
lanterns and matches. These found and lit, we noticed 
that the fright had considerably sharpened our sense of 
vision : I suppose our eyes had by this time adapted 
themselves to the darkness. 

We now backed in again, slackening the line with 
more confidence, and poling her clear of the sunken rock 
with boat-hooks. Once inside of that, we were all right, 
and the next moment the party jumped on one of the 
large boulders of massive granite that apparently com- 
posed the flooring of the cave, while I returned for the 
outsiders in a most triumphant mood. 

This time we got in without any difiiculty, one of those 
already there having remained on the boulder with his 
light, to warn us as to the bearing of the sunken rock, 
which, being between him and the entrance, was plainly 
visible as the swell broke over it. 

Leaving one of the boys in the boat to keep her clear 
of the rocks, we now lit our candles and commenced 
climbing over the boulders toward the centre of the 
dome, where we could see the dim and uncertain outlines 
of a truncated cone, upon the top of which was perched 



280 WHAT WE SAW IN THE SEA-GOD'S TEMPLE. 

something very much like an ordinary dog-kennel. This 
was by no means pleasant climbing, as one every now and 
then put his hand upon a king-crab, a young bat, or some 
object equally pleasant to the touch : still, we climbed on, 
and finally reached the top. 

It proved to be a rugged mound, half rock and half 
earth, and the dog-kennel to be a grotesquely-carved josh- 
house, within whose closed portals we discovered a finely- 
executed bronze casting of their sea-god. A number of 
copper cash were around about his sacred feet, and a 
gilded serpent twined around his head and reared its 
wide-spread jaws over the stupid Oriental eyes of the 
image. Altogether it was a most singular-looking "josh," 
and more than one of the party (as it was subsequently 
acknowledged, though every one protested at the time 
that it would be a wanton outrage against the Japanese) 
came to the secret determination to get possession of it 
before leaving the port. !N^o one had the face to molest 
it then, from the simple fact that we knew that the Ja- 
panese spies had kept their glasses (they get these 
through the Dutch at ISTan-ga-sa-ki) on our every movement 
since leaving the ship, and that they would visit the cave 
immediately after night to see if we had carried ofi" any 
thing. So we went away empty-handed, if I may except 
an unfortunate young bat which was mercilessly crowded 
into a large-mouthed bottle by our enterprising assistant 
naturalist and acting junior engineer, L. M, Squires, Esq. 

While making our exit from this heathen temple, we 
noticed that the archway which led to it was about 
one hundred yards long, crooked like an elbow, from 
five to ten yards in width, and of an average height 



THEY RETURN THANKS TOO SOON. 281 

of about fifteen feet; while the water measured seven 
fathoms at the mouth, decreasing as you neared the 
rotunda. 

Knowing all this, it was very easy for me to return 
for Mr. Josh a few days later ; but the sleepy old fellow 
had disappeared ; and, whether the Japanese fisherman 
or one of our own party had anticipated me, I have 
never learned to this day. 

Among other shell-fish we found a very fine mussel 
along the shores of this bay, which took the place of 
inferior oysters admirably. I don't know what we 
should have thought of them had we had access to 
an ordinary market-place; but, living on salt beef as 
we then were, they proved any thing but unacceptable. 

Having almost completed the survey of the Straits 
of T'Sugar, which separate the great island of Nipon 
from that of Jesso, the Yincennes and Cooper now 
sailed upon their last cruises previous to our arrival 
at San Francisco, while the " old John" remained quietly 
at her anchor. Seeing the Yincennes and Cooper thus 
put to sea, and knowing we were to follow their example 
upon the following day, the Japanese " chin-chined 
Josh" to an alarming extent, thanking their idols for 
relieving them of the foreign vessels. The sound of their 
huge drums and shrill wind instruments had scarcely 
died away, however, when a fresh arrival took place in 
the shape of three English war-steamers, one of which 
was towing a fourth. This latter we at once took to be 
the Russian steamer Yostock ; but, as she drew nearer, 
she proved to be our old friend the Tartar, with whose 
officers we were acquainted. We therefore went on 



282 HOW THE "beggars" leave CASTRIES BAY. 

board to pay them a visit aud hear the news; for the 
last time we had seen them (during our survey of the 
straits) it had been reported that the English and French 
cruisers had discovered the Russian squadron stowed 
away in the Bay of Castries, and we thought, of course, 
that there had been a grand battle. 

Upon reaching the deck we were received by the most 
disgusted-looking set of warriors that I ever looked 
upon. We shook hands warmly, and tried to get them 
to tell us about "the fight;" but all we could get out 
of them for a long while were the following words : — 
" The beggars cut stick in a heavy fog, and left us suck- 
ing our fingers." After a while, however, they became 
more communicative, and we learned as follows : — 

While Admiral Sterling, in the Winchester frigate, 
with the assistance of the steamer Hornet, was block- 
ading the Russian vessels moored in Castries Bay, a fresh 
gale blew on shore, causing him to haul his wind for 
an offing; and, when this gale with its accompanying 
fog had passed over, the Russians had disappeared, ships 
and all. The Hornet immediately landed a party, who 
found things in great disorder, there being all the ap- 
pearances of a hasty flight. Bread just done to a turn 
was found in the oven. Twenty barrels of good flour, 
a quantity of spars, and, lastly, some ladies' dresses and 
trinkets were also found : these latter were retained by 
the captain of the Hornet to be restored to their owner 
on a future occasion. A daguerreotype of a lady was 
also found which had been taken in London. 

Our friends told us all this, and ended by saying that 
the " beggars" must be somewhere in the Gulf of Tartary, 



I WEATHER BUST-PROOF AND HIS MASTER. 283 

and that they would soon find them again ; but we of 
the "old John," some three months later, learned, from 
one of the Eussians themselves, that they passed through 
the head of the gulf and into the Amoor River, where 
they had fortified themselves in the hope that they would 
be followed. It had always been a received truth that 
there was no passage between the island of Sagalien 
and the mainland; hence the mistake of the Allies. 

On the 29th of June, 1855, we left Ha-ko-da-di through 
a dense fog, in order that, when the usual clearing-away 
at noon took place, we should be in a position to con- 
clude our survey of the Straits of T'Sugar, having been 
directed to end that work previous to proceeding up 
the west coast of Jesso. In order to facilitate the ac- 
complishment of this task, I was ordered to take the 
armed launch, twelve men, a week's provisions, tent, &c., 
and follow the coast as far down as a station known as 
"West Point," where we were to be picked up by the 
ship at the end of three days. 

By means of various ingenious devices — such as 
enlarging upon the great number of deer that we would 
fall in with while "camping out," &c. &c. — I was so 
fortunate as to secure the companionship of old bust- 
proof and his master for this expedition; but, before 
it was over, the latter lost all confidence in my predic- 
tions, and concluded to oil up his favourite and stow 
him away for an indefinite period when he should re- 
turn on board. "We also carried along with us one of 
the tightly-encased small boys of dingy notoriety, to 
take charge of the contents of our camp-kettle, &c. 
His name was Mr. John Jeremiah McCarty, and he 



284 A CI-DEVANT TAILOR STANDS POST. 

was equal to all the other boys in the ship as far as 
juvenile rascality and activity were concerned. 

The fog clearing off at noon, we left the " old John" in 
high glee and commenced the work. West Point proved 
to iDe about half-way between Ha-ko-da-di and the larger 
city t>f Matsmai, and was reached toward the close of 
the second day, when we pitched tent for the second 
time, and amused ourselves by breaking one of the 
agreements appended to the treaty by shooting several 
finely-flavoured wild ducks, with red legs and feet and 
pointed bills. When subsequently spoken to about 
thus breaking the treaty, I threw the blame on the 
Japanese officers themselves, who, probably from a desire 
to see how our guns carried, had strongly advocated the 
act by unmistakable signs and gestures. It is astonishing 
how well people can make themselves understood upon 
agreeable subjects, though unable to speak a word of 
each other's language. In this case we understood them 
perfectly. 

Our first night at camping out was one of some excite- 
ment. We had been refused permission at Si-mo-da to 
do the very thing in which the launch was then engaged, 
and, from a most unpleasant custom of the Japanese, — i.e. 
the seizure and binding of strangers, and their removal 
to Yeddo, — we entertained reasonable fears of at least 
being disturbed in our slumbers. In order therefore to 
avoid as much as possible all communication with the 
natives, our tent was pitched at least three miles from 
any visible habitation. A large fire was soon kindled 
with drift-wood, supper cooked and dispatched, and a 
ci-devant tailor (armed to the teeth) placed upon post- 



WE KECEIVE A NOCTURNAL VISIT. 285 

with orders to call the purser and myself in case of any 
arrivals. I have every reason to believe that this "mari- 
nized seamster" went immediately to sleep ; for, after we 
had vainly devoted hours to the same end, we suddenly 
heard voices at a^ distance, and, upon leaving the tent, 
found him seated after the fashion of his craft, and un- 
able to answer. 

Upon reaching the elevation of the bank, and looking 
in the direction from which the voices came, a beautiful 
sight presented itself to our eyes : no less than forty or 
fifty Japanese, each bearing one of their fancifully-painted 
lanterns, were moving toward us at a rapid pace. They 
did not seem to fear detection ; but, in order to " provide 
against all precautions," we got under arms, six of us 
being at the boat and eight at the tent. 

As they continued their approach, they talked in very 
loud tones, (to give each other courage, one of the men 
remarked ;) but, as soon as they saw us awake and pre- 
pared, a halt took place, and one of the party advanced 
alone. Upon being met by me without any blood flow- 
ing, he was followed by others of his company, and, the 
purser now joining with bust-proof and the tent-guard, 
we were soon engaged deeply in the mysteries of pan- 
tomime. 

It would be tedious to explain the numerous signs 
which the constant necessity of driving from their coasts 
strangers with whom they cannot exchange a word has 
placed at the disposal of these people : it will be enough 
to say that in the present case, assisted by the few words 
of their language picked up at Si-mo-da and Ha-ko-da-di, 
we made ourselves very fairly understood. And the fol- 



286 THEY ORDER US TO SAIL AWAY. 

lowing is the result of a half-hour's pantomime, sprinkled 
over with some twenty words. 

Japanese, (with a look of command.) — "Put up your 
tent, put every thing into your boat, and sail away." 

American. — " "We are going to sleep here to-night and 
sail away in the morning." 

Japanese, (look of command changing to one of affected 
terror.) — "You can't sleep here to-night: if you do my 
head will be cut off by the governor." 

American. — "Oh, no! we have been to Si-mo-da and 
Ha-ko-da-di, and know that it is only one of your strata- 
gems to get strangers away without resorting to force." 

Japanese, (with a most funeral-like expression of 
countenance.) — "It is true: we never joke: I must lose 
my head." 

American. — "I am very sorry: we will all cry very 
much. But, as the wind is against us, we will sleep here 
to-night, and sail away to-morrow if the fog clears away. 
If the fog remains, we remain." 

Japanese. — "How many of you are there?" 

American. — "Fourteen men, fourteen rifles, and four- 
teen revolvers." 

Japanese, (with great vivacity of manner.) — "All right. 
You are going, in the morning. Don't go back into the 
country. Go to sleep. We'll be back early. Good- 
night." 

And, thus saying, the party retraced their steps, talking 
in a very lively manner, very unlike men upon the brink 
of decapitation. Just as they were moving off, the 
purser heard a noise on the bank above, and, climbing up 
with "bust-proof through the rank grass, reached the 



THEY OBJECT TO MATINAL BATHING. 287 

summit just in time to see some forty or fifty others 
scampering away among the bushes. They had surrounded 
us without our being aware of it, although the " marinized 
seamster" did hold out that, if there loas any direction in 
which he had watched, that was it. 

True to their promise, they did return the next morn- 
ing, and at a most fortunate moment. The day was just 
breaking ; it had come on to blow since midnight ; the 
launch was gradually dragging in the heavy surf, and we 
had either to haul her up on the beach or put out into 
the bay. As it was still very foggy, the former was 
determined upon, in spite of the danger attending it, and 
they arrived just in time to assist us. They found twelve 
of us up to the neck in the surf, while the remaining two 
guarded the arms ; and, though the most violent panto- 
mime failed to induce them to take to the water, while 
assisting us to haul, they nevertheless did good service at 
the end of the boat's painter. They seemed perfectly 
reconciled to our stay, and the head-officer laughed 
heartily when asked as to the method he had adopted 
in rejoining his head to the trunk. 

They partook sparingly of our breakfast, evinced the 
usual curiosity in regard to every thing in our possession, 
understood with apparent pleasure that we were making 
charts of their islands, praised the accuracy of the sketches 
which the yeoman of the ship (who accompanied us) had 
made, and finally begged that we would fire one of the 
rifles at a mark. 

Fortunately, one of the boat's crew was a really fine 
marksman, and there was no objection to gratifying their 
curiosity; so, a piece of drift-wood being put up some 



288 THE JAPANESE IDEA OF AMEKICA. 

hundred yards down the beach, he put a ball very near 
the centre with "the utmost non-she-lan-cy." 

This shot caused them the greatest wonder at first, but 
was shortly attributed to chance, and it required a repeti- 
tion of the exploit to convince them of its commonplace 
nature. 

They remained with us some time, making signs upon 
various subjects; and I was surprised to observe the 
amount of knowledge possessed by this evidently-infe- 
rior class of ofiicers in regard to European affairs, or 
rather in regard to the affairs of the world outside of 
Japan. 

They were not only aware of the existing war, but had 
a very fair idea of the causes which led to it. They said 
that Eussia was very large and France and England very 
small, and asked "why America didn't join one side or 
the other and put an end to it at once." 

They have an idea that the whole "Western Continent 
belongs to the United States, and that we are more power- 
ful than any other two nations put together : of course 
we did not undeceive them in this respect. They were 
fully aware of the railroad then in progress across the 
Isthmus of Panama, knew that the discovery of gold in 
California was a late affair, and, in short, asked so many 
unexpected questions, that one was forced to the conclu- 
sion of their being in more frequent communication with 
the outer world than is generally supposed. 

In reply to their question as to America joining in the 
war, I told them it was peace and commerce which had 
made us so powerful, and that it was our policy to be 
friendly with all nations as long as they acted fairly by 



WE LOOK WISE AND SHRUG OUR SHOULDERS. 289 

US ; that, when they abused our citizens or violated trea- 
ties, then we declared war. This allusion to breaking 
treaties seemed to give them some uneasiness. They 
asked if Kipon (in speaking of Japan or the Japanese 
Government they always use the word Kipon) had yet 
broken the treaty made with Commodore Perr}^, and, 
upon being answered in the affirmative, cast their eyes 
upon the ground and looked hypocritically sad. They 
next supposed that, as Nipon had broken the treaty, 
America would fight Nipon as soon as the ships could 
come out. This was a difficult question to answer : we 
could find neither words nor signs to express ourselves, 
and therefore looked very grave and shrugged our shoul- 
ders with evident effect. 

I now in turn began to question the headman. I 
asked him why he had caused us to be surrounded the 
previous night, knowing as he must that America and 
Kipon were friends; and his answer was characteristic 
of their well-known policy. They who we thought had 
surrounded us were poor country-people, the scum of the 
earth, persons to be spit upon by such as us, (he and my- 
self,) &c. &c., and that they had come of their own accord 
simply to see what was going on. 

His manner, however, contradicted this explanation; 
and, upon my accusing him and N^ipon in general of in- 
sincerity in most of their dealings with us, he laughed 
cunningly, as if it were a fine trait we were discovering 
in their character, and returned to the subject of our 
"going away." 

This pertinacity annoyed me almost to the kicking- 

pitch, but I contented myself with informing him that 

19 



290 MR. JNO. J. AND A FROWNING OFFICIAL. 

we should leave wlien we were ready, and not before ; 
and that as for persons prowling around a tent at night, 
Americans often mistook them for wild beasts and fired 
their guns accordingly. This information, or rather the 
manner in which we were forced from lack of words to 
impart it, (to wit, pointing the gun at his breast, and 
then advancing rapidly till it came in pretty sharp contact 
with his fifth rib,) threw the headman into a state of 
indignant reserve, which proved even cherry-brandy- 
proof for as much as five minutes, — i.e. until the bottle 
began to look empty. 

In this manner the morning passed along drowsily 
enough, only one thing occurring worthy of note. This 
was the passing by of some high mandarin and retinue, 
who were transporting an extensive lot of matchlocks in 
the direction of Ha-ko-da-di. To this "big bug" the 
Japanese in our vicinity went on their knees while giving 
what we supposed to be a history of our arrival, deten- 
tion, &c. ; and the "big bug" himself, after hearing said 
history, frowned loweringly upon our party, much to the 
indignation of Mr. John J., who gave vent to his feelings 
through various contortions of the body and countenance, 
accompanied by a well-known sign, supposed to be of 
Masonic origin, and addressed (behind my back) to the 
angry ofiacial. It was singular to see a dozen grown-up 
men on their knees before a stupid-looking official, while 
a stranger boy, almost a child in years, was indulging in 
the most ridiculous pantomime at his expense. 

This party consisted of some fifty men, and probably 
of as many horses, many of the former carrying lacquered 
poles with gilded heads, to which were attached streamers 




JAPANESE OFFICIAL COMMUNICATING WITH A SUPERIOR. 



A WOED ABOUT THE ARMY OF JAPAN. 291 

of different colours and shapes ; while some of the horses 
carried the more important personages of the party, and 
the remainder burdens of matchlocks secured on each 
side in the shape of packs. And here I will remark 
upon the great number of horses which exist upon this 
island. Almost every village has several droves, some of 
which are used under the saddle by officers and couriers, 
but the greater number in the transportation of dried 
fish, &c. In height they average only from fourteen to 
fifteen hands, but are compactly built, and most mule- 
like in their powers of endurance. You see them travel- 
ling along the beach under their packs, in single file, and 
with the bridle of one fast to the saddle of another. In 
this manner one or two men easily drive any number. 
They are shod and unshod as the nature of the road 
demands, — not with iron shoes, but with a socket of 
platted grass, which, singular to say, lasts several days. 

I embraced the opportunity presented by this somewhat 
military display, to make the best inquiries I could as to 
the army of Japan, and, from what I learned, combined 
with like information received from Tatz-nosky, came to 
the conclusion that they had no army at all. The feudal 
system of Middle-Age Europe prevails here with a 
healthy if not an increasing vitality, and in the existence 
of this system is found their much-talked-of army. The 
Government, for instance, has a fort to be taken or de- 
fended. The work is given to some particular prince or 
nobleman, who, with his peasantry, — or, more properly 
speaking, his slaves, — proceeds to obey his orders. If his 
force prove insufficient, a second high officer is ordered 
to join the undertaking; and so on. And in this lies the 



292 A TERRIBLE DISAPPOINTMENT. 

secret of their army of two millions, against whieli so 
many timid people in the United States were afraid to 
send so small a squadron as Perry's. I sincerely believe 
that Commodore Perry, with the force he then had at his 
command, could have waged a successful war against the 
whole empire of Japan. 

At 2 P.M., the weather moderating and the fog lifting, 
we struck every thing in haste, and proceeded on for 
West Point. Just before shoving off, however, we re- 
ceived a present from the "headman," in the shape of 
two ordinary chicken-cocks, which caused us to rub our 
hands as the hour for supper crossed our minds. I don't 
know what we should have done, in lieu of rubbing our 
hands, had we known to what respect their extreme age 
and toughness entitled them : they proved impenetrable 
to even our scurvy-threatened teeth. 

This is one of the many rewards attendant upon a 
cruise of that nature. We were forced to live upon salt 
beef, ditto pork, and insipid preserved meats, for (in this 
case) eight months, with forty gallons of lime-juice on 
hand to retard the arrival of the scurvy. But to return 
to more pleasant subjects. 

Three or four hours carried us into a small cove in the 
vicinity of "West Point, partially sheltered from the surf 
by sunken and other rocks, in which we dropped anchor, 
pitched tent, and made other preparations for passing the 
night. It was here that we discovered the great anti- 
quity of our presents ; and, a new set of the ever- watchful 
Japanese coming on us about this time, and signing us to 
shoot some ducks, we readily complied with their intima- 
tion, producing them a momentary gratification and our- 



MORE AMERICANS IN TROUBLE. 293 

selves a fine supper. The next day we were picked up 
by tlie elongated anchor-lioy commonly known as the 
"old John," and the day following saw the conclusion 
of the survey of the Straits of T' Sugar. 

As I remarked in the last chapter, we found three 
foreign vessels at anchor among the Japanese junks. 
These were the Hamburg brig Greta, which we had 
chartered at Hong-Kong to bring us a supply of coal and 
provisions, the English surveying-schooner Saracen, who 
was engaged on work similar to ours, and the American 
whaling-brig Leveret, which had arrived some days pre- 
vious, on the strength of Commodore Perry's treaty, to 
land her cargo and its owners and then continue on her 
whaling-voyage. The supercargo of the Greta, who was 
a very agreeable companion, in spite of his fondness for 
exploring caves, (?) showed us a list of liquors, cigars, 
&c., from which we could supply our mess for months 
at an advance of fifty per cent, over Hong-Kong prices. 
But when it came to provisions we were woefully disap- 
pointed. There was nothing in that line save the regular 
Government-ration ; and some of the mess sighed heavily 
as they looked forward to eating salt pork and beef for 
the next several months and probably arriving at San 
Francisco half disabled from the scurvy. 

We found the passengers by the Leveret in as much 
trouble with the authorities about setting up a ship- 
chandlery on shore as the nomadics had been in at 
Si-mo-da; and Commander Rodgers was now boarded by 
both parties, praying that he would see the governor and 
insist upon the treaty being respected. The result of 
this was a forcible appeal on our part in their behalf; but 



294 HOW THEY COMPLY WITH THE TREATY. 

it was unsuccessful, and both vessels soon sailed in dis- 
gust, the Leveret on her whaling-voyage, and the noma- 
dics for San Francisco. 

And now I will end this chapter by showing how these 
unfortunates, — men who had been regularly swindled, by 
what purported to be a treaty, into investing "their all" 
in a venture to Japan, — I will show, I say, how our Go- 
vernment left them in the lurch and upheld the cunning 
interpretation which the Japanese placed on a phrase of 
said treaty. 

Upon arriving at San Francisco and applying at Wash- 
ington for indemnification for the losses they had sus- 
tained through the palpable treachery of the Japanese, 
they were informed that the phrase "temporary resi- 
dence" did not mean temporary residence; that they had 
nothing to complain of; that the phrase meant, as the 
Japanese said, "a day's walk into the country," or "a 
few days on shore," or something equally absurd. I 
wonder when any more Americans will risk their capital 
upon this treaty, which cost us several millions ? 



CHAPTER XVI. 

WE PASS BEFORE THE GEEAT CITY OF MATSMAI, TO THE WONDER OF THE 
JAPANESE, CONTINUE TO THE NORTHWARD ALONG THE WEST COAST OF 
THE ISLAND OF JESSO, BEAT A JAPANESE OFFICER ON THE HEAD, AND 
FINALLY ARRIVE AT THE TOWN OF TOMARI, WHERE WE HAVE A GOOD 

LOOK AT THE AINU, OR "HAIRY KUBILES" THE LAST OF JAPAN AND 

THE COMMENCEMENT OF A HEAVY FOG. 

It was on the 1st of July that we ended the survey 
spoken of in the last chapter, after which we continued 
along the west coast and anchored that night off the 
great city of Matsmai. There we found ouly an open 
roadstead, and we did not approach near enough to take 
interest in the appearance of either land or city. 

The running survey upon which we were engaged was 
in itself a probable violation of the treaty, and the cap- 
tain was naturally averse to any further infringement of 
it in the shape of going on shore, except for the purposes 
of wooding ship or obtaining astronomical observations 
necessary to our work. He therefore, expecting some of 
us to make a terrestrial demonstration, and disliking to 
refuse the necessary permission, anchored several miles 
off, evidently to discourage all shore-going parties ; and 
this must account for my passing Matsmai with only a 
few words. The same inconvenient though doubtless 
proper restriction, being to a greater or less extent con- 
tinued up the whole coast, deprived us of many oppor- 
tunities of observation and relaxation, which, joined to 

295 



296 THE GREAT CITY OP MATSMAI. 

the unavoidable drawbacks attendant upon all cruises of 
this nature, made us long more and more for San Fran- 
cisco and a month's respite. We had seen enough of 
"Japan and the Japanese." 

The next morning at an early hour we had hove up our 
anchor, and were again under steam, standing in for the 
land, intending to skirt the face of the city as close as 
the depth of water would permit. 

Matsmai, from all that we could see of it while thus 
passing, is a city of considerable extent and imposing 
appearance. Situated in lat. 41° 25' K. and long. 140° 
02' E. of Greenwich, its inhabitants enjoy a temperate 
climate and that greatest of luxuries, — an abundant supply 
of pure and cool water. This water, as it flows from the 
springs which the purser and myself found around the 
base of every hill, is actually too cold to drink in any 
quantity. Ice, though covering the summits of the moun- 
tains, which lift their whitened crests over the inland por- 
tion of the city, has no charms for the people of Matsmai. 

Situated under the west point of the roadstead, and 
extending along the beach some two miles to the east- 
ward, — ^having its feet washed by the surf, and retreating 
some half-mile back among the hills, — the elevated por- 
tions of the city rising from gentle undulations or from 
the summits of sloping hills studded invariably with 
fresh and green-looking trees, — Matsmai presents a most 
pleasant scene for the eye to rest upon. It is upon these 
hills and undulations, surrounded by regularly laid-out 
grounds, groves of shade-trees, and apparently-beautifal 
gardens, that the Government-buildings and residences 
of the higher class appear to be located. There was one 



THE "OLD JOHN" AGAIN ASTONISHES THE NATIVES. 297 

large pagoda-like structure in particular, which, with its 
grounds, seemed to occupy the whole of the highest hill, 
and which, from its imposing elevation, would make — pro- 
bably does make — an admirable signal-station. Perched 
upon its very summit, the greensward, sprinkled here and 
there with shady groves, extended from it in every direc- 
tion until a white paling-fence, (it looked strange at first 
to see our well-known paling lohiiewashed fence in Japan,) 
forming a circle of probably a mile in circumference 
around the base of the hill, seemed to bar its farther 
extent. 

In addition to this, I counted no less than four large 
temples or josh-houses, each having its grounds and 
groves, its greater or less elevation, and its neat paling- 
fence. It is a beautiful spot to look at ; and, in spite of 
my experience at Si-mo-da and Ha-ko-da-di, I could not 
avoid thinking that it would bear a closer inspection as 
far as cleanliness was concerned. "We passed along 
before Matsmai under low steam, carrying safe water 
well in with the beach, and watching through our glasses 
the excited natives who crowded the water's edge to see 
" the large junk that sailed with her sails furled." Like 
the Chinamen on the "Wan-chow River, it was " a huckle- 
berry above their persimmon." 

Leaving the master, with an armed boat and his astro- 
nomical instruments, at the point making out from the 
west end of the city, the ship herself devoted the rest of 
the day (plus four hours of the night) to the examination 
of two islands on the southern horizon, and^ after return- 
ina: for the boat, continued on to the northward with the 
first gleam of day. It was this kind of service which 



298 THE REMAINS OP A "LATE BREAKFAST.'' 

tried the powers of both men and officers,— working from 
daylight until dark on those long days, and then often 
devoting half of the night to finding a safe anchorage at 
which to sleep through the remaining darkness. Many 
persons who read these lines by a comfortable fire may 
possibly think that they would enjoy the excitement and 
novelty of an "exploring cruise around the world:" I 
can only say that I thought so once myself. 

On the 6th inst. we found ourselves near a prominent 
point, and, the weather being favourable, the master 
landed again with his instruments. There being a hilly, 
well-wooded country coming down to the very beach, 
the assistant botanist was ordered to strap up his port- 
folio and land also. This point was the southwest ex- 
tremity of a passably-fair bay in which we found anchorage 
for the night. Besides his various vegetable discoveries, 
the assistant botanist made several in the animal line. 
He chased, unsuccessfully, several hare, (such as are 
found in Lower California,) gave a wide berth to several 
savage-looking natives, and finally fell in with a gray 
wolf making a late breakfast from a slothful hare. This 
fashionable repast he interrupted through the instru- 
mentality of a well-directed stone, and secured what was 
left (one hind-leg) for preservation in spirits of wine. 

As I have already remarked, we anchored in that bay 
for the night, and there the miserable policy of the 
Japanese was more glaringly demonstrated than ever. 

Two bateaux, paddled each by two of the lower class 
of Japanese, {the people,) came alongside after much per- 
suasion, with great trembling and evident fear, and, 
mistaking our signs of welcome for applications for a 



'BRUTALITY OF JAPANESE OFFICIALS. 299 

few clams in the bottoms of their boats, readily passed 
them on board, accepted a few trifling articles in return, 
and were becoming quite lively and pleasant, when a third 
bateau, paddled also by two men, came rapidly within 
hail. The after-paddler of this third bateau, calling to 
them in a threatening and brutal tone, beckoned thenr 
off from the ship Avith the most violent gestures, and, not 
content with thus driving them away, confiscated their 
paddles, with which he beat them severely over the head, 
made their boats fast to his, and thus towed them in- 
shore, where a severe bambooing probably awaited them. 
I had the satisfaction, ten minutes later, of using a boat- 
hook in conjunction with the shaven head of one of 
that fellow's brother-officers, who, while I was sounding 
around the ship in obedience to orders, had the impu- 
dence to wave his "ten-scull" boat to be sculled alongside 
of our cockle-shell of a dingy so as to render oars per- 
fectly useless. His object was to prevent our going any 
nearer the shore; and, after motioning him out of the 
way several times without success, I resorted to the boat- 
hook application with most satisfactory results. These 
people propel their bateaux (most Japanese boats merit 
the appellation of bateau rather than boat) with from one 
to twenty sculls ; and it is astonishing with what skill they 
will manage them. They progress either ahead, astern, 
sideways, or diagonally, as circumstances may call for; 
and, if they wish to prevent a strange boat from proceed- 
ing in a certain direction, all they have to do is once io get 
alongside, and the progress of that boat is at an end until 
a boat-hook or something of that sort is called into requi- 
sition. But to leave generalities. After receiving one 



300 THEIR UNDOUBTED COWARDICE. 

blow they got out of the way even faster than they had 
got into it, and proceeded toward the ship with a caution 
that indicated the fear of there meeting a similar recep- 
tion. 

There were five mandarins in this boat, each armed 
with two swords, when I raised the boat-hook ; and, in- 
stead of offering to draw them, they tumbled one over th e 
other out of reach of it in a most Mwmandarin-like style, 
and did not resume their stupid haughtiness of manner 
until clear of all possible contact. I don't know that I 
should have been half so determined had previous expe- 
rience not stamped their class as the most arrant cowards : 
as it was, I returned on board and blew my trumpet as a 
man of great readiness of action. 

At this place we saw, for the third time, the Ainu, or 
"hairy Kurile." The first specimen was seen at Ha-ko- 
da-di, where he had drifted as one of the crew of a coast- 
ing-junk; the second lot received a " wide berth" from 
the assistant botanist; and now they were becoming quite 
plentiful. I will, however, defer their description until 
we come to a place under the northeast point of this 
island, where we remained a day taking in wood from 
their boats, and where they literally crowded our decks 
during that occupation. 

Leaving our anchorage, after having bought some four 
cords of wood for as many yards of broadcloth, we con- 
tinued along the coast toward Strogonoff Bay. It had 
been the custom of those people from time immemorial 
to hurry off all ships anchoring in their waters by giving 
them wood, water, and a few provisions, gratis, and then 
telling them to go to sea at once or entail upon the 



HOW THEY FORCED BUNSBY ON HIS KNEES. 301 

"headman" the unpleasant necessity of having his throat 
cut. And this was exactly the manner in which they now 
acted to us, even though the treaty says that "payment 
shall be made in gold and silver." After we had received 
the wood they positively refused to receive any thing in 
return, and the cloth was only accepted because we would 
not bring it on board again. 

It was most amusing to see how quietly they permitted 
us to walk through the town on the following morning 
after having tried to prevent our even sounding in the 
bay during the previous evening : my impression is that 
a firm bearing, backed by even a small force, is all that is 
required to cause these officers (not the people) to behave 
with respect and consideration to any stranger. 

Our ci-devant whaler, "Bunsby," told us that a few years 
back he cruised in these latitudes, and that, upon landing 
at Matsmai for supplies, the whole boat's crew were forced 
down upon their knees before a stupid-looking dignitary, 
and retained in that position until the withdrawal of the 
great man set them at liberty. "With us, however, the 
case was widely different. When we landed at this last 
place, a dense crowd of Kuriles and the lower class 
of Japanese pressed from all quarters to see us, and were 
driven away (evidently to show us respect) with brutal 
blows and violent language. One fellow in particular 
dealt his blows around with such utter disregard to the 
safety of heads and limbs, that many of the shrinking 
crowd either jumped or were pressed oft* the mole ; and 
I noticed one little girl who was thus injured so as to re- 
quire being helped out of the water. But to go on with 
my narrative. 



302 WE RECEIVE A NOCTURNAL VISIT. 

Eunning along the shore during the day, we, as usual, 
anchored at night near a small town, and about 9 p.m. 
were boarded by a bateau sculled by two Japanese, one 
of whom seemed, from his dress, to belong to the class of 
officers. He wore no sword, however ; and it may here be 
worthy of remark that since leaving Matsmai, up to the 
present time, we have stopped at no village (the one of the 
boat-hook exploit excepted) where were persons residing 
entitled to wear two swords. 

"Well, this nocturnal arrival came over the side in an 
easy, lounging style that was quite new in a Japanese, 
and, the captain being on deck, several of us accompanied 
him into the cabin with the new-comer. He displayed 
some uneasiness when the door was closed, but regained 
his off-hand manner as soon as he saw a decanter and 
glasses join the party. The first thing he did was to take 
from his capacious garment a bundle of lacquered cups and 
saucers, which he presented to the captain, at the same 
time pointing to the decanter and glasses and intimating 
his desire to be presented with one in return. At this we 
all laughed heartily : the fellow had evidently boarded 
vessels with a like object before. Seeing us laugh, he 
looked a little annoyed, and gave us to understand that "it 
was only at night that speculating visits were permitted 
in l^Tipon." I can't imagine what he thought we laughed 
at. The conduct of this man gave us a good opportunity 
for remarking a most unfavourable peculiarity of this 
undoubtedly deceitful and treacherous people. "While 
we were laughing at his expressive pantomime toward 
the glassware, his companion came down, and, crouch 
ing on the deck, looked anxiously in the same direction. 



HOW THEY ACCEPT PKESENTS. 303 

They were both longing to be presented with a glass ; but, 
when one was held out to each, both shrank back in well- 
feigned alarm, and, holding up the right thumb, gave 
us to understand that to accept was as much as their 
beads were worth; and yet in less than ten seconds after 
this they both had their glasses stowed away under their 
garments. This they accomplished by concealing them, 
in apparently a hurried manner, while their heads were 
alternately turned away ; and that this turning away of 
the head was "N"ipon custom" there is no doubt: in fact, 
they told us as much. Shortly after this successful feat 
they took their departure, but again returned shortly 
after midnight, and yet again upon the following morn- 
ing in company with the headman of the village. On 
this latter occasion one of the cruets disappeared from 
the captain's stand, though unfortunately the discovery 
was not made until too late to expose the thief. The re- 
sult of this was an order to let no more Japanese boats 
come alongside unless upon business. That was the first 
and only case of theft that we experienced while among 
them. 

We were surprised to find here immense droves of 
deer in the immediate vicinity of the town ; and the 
doctor with his Kentucky rifle, and the purser with 
everlasting "old bust-proof," went on shore the morn- 
ing after our arrival to try to bring some on board. 
They had seen some of the skins stretched against the 
sides of the houses, undergoing the process of drying; 
and the people had made signs to them that the dense 
cane-brake which backed the town was full of them, 
and that they were at liberty to shoot as many as they 



304 THE "OLD JOHN" IS COMPLIMENTED. 

desired. They therefore entered the brake in high 
glee ; hut, though they saw a few here and there, and 
heard hundreds of them rushing through the canes, the 
growth was so dense as to render such a thing as taking 
aim impossible. They consequently returned empty- 
handed and in great disgust, to be informed by Martin, 
the steward, that our preserved meats were almost ex- 
pended, and that, if "the gentlemen" didn't shoot some- 
thing soon, we would be in a starving condition. 

At this place we took in another supply of wood, 
saving our coal for the Okotsk Sea, and here succeeded 
in making payment in the shape of tea, sugar, rice, &c. 
Here we also caught a fair supply of small rock-cod, 
which rendered the breakfast-table so attractive as to 
open the state-room doors half an hour sooner than 
usual. 

Continuing on to the northward with a leading wind, 
we passed the English frigate "Winchester and brig 
Bittern, apparently beating down for Ha-ko-da-di. As 
usual, we were running quite close in with the land, 
and they, ever on the look-out for the absconding 
Russians, came well in before the unmistakable pro- 
portions of the elongated anchor-hoy convinced them 
that we were not the Vosgoth under American colours. 

The southern corner of Strogonoff Bay gave us 
shelter during the following night, and the next day, 
taking advantage of a moderate southeasterly gale, we 
succeeded in sighting Cape Romanzoff, the northwest 
extremity of the island. We found this cppe very 
well located on the chart; and, had the weather been 
clear, the eye might easily have crossed the Straits of 



A DISAGREEABLE COMBINATION. 305 

La Perouse and rested upon the southern shore of 
Sagalien. This latter island, which is larger than Cuba 
and smaller than Kipon, is said to be divided between 
the Chinese and the Japanese, — the latter holding the 
southern half, while the former claim the northern. Its 
native population are the Kuriles; but, whether they 
are entirely or partially subject to their double mas- 
ters, I am unable to say. I conversed in Ha-ko-da-di 
with an English officer who had lately landed near the 
centre of the west coast of the island, and who spoke 
of them as "wild-looking fellows, very hairy, clothed 
in a coarse sack, and fearful of coming out of the bushes, 
from which they peeped at his party like so many wild 
cattle." 

As usual, Carnes was landed at Cape Romanzoff with 
his instruments ; and, while the astronomical observa- 
tions were going on, the ship herself ran down to two 
islands on the western horizon, hoping to sound around 
them both before dark. In this, however, we were 
woefully disappointed, for the sun left us before the first 
circle had been completed, and we had the pleasure 
of feeling our way back through a combination of water, 
fog, and darkness. And here it may be well to caution 
all vessels passing through the Straits of La Perouse to 
give Romanzoff a berth of at least a mile and a half, as 
there is a reef making out to the north-northwest from 
that cape, whose length is a mile or more, and of which 
no indication exists on the chart. "We anchored some 
time after midnight, and the shivering master, upon his 
return on board, expressed himself in emphatic language 

against all such nocturnal excursions. 

20 



306 WHY JESSO WAS CONQUERED. 

The next day we attempted to follow the shore of 
Romanzoff Bay, toward Cape Soya, to the eastward, hut 
found so many hidden dangers in the shape of reefs and 
sunken rocks that we gave up the idea and steered 
straight for the town of Tomari. Here we anchored 
for the night, and devoted the remainder of the day 
and part of the next to wooding up. Any vessel seek- 
ing shelter in this hay cannot be too careful with look- 
out and lead. It is the worst ground we passed over 
during that cruise ; and yet Golownin speaks of it as " a 
fine large hay, having regular water and good holding- 
ground," &c. Possibly we may have devoted too short 
a time to its examination, for we found this writer 
generally remarkable for closeness of observation and 
accuracy of statement. 

The town of Tomari, situated in this bay and im- 
mediately under Cape Soya, the extreme north point 
of the island, is one of the numerous fishing-settlements 
of the Japanese, which line the coast from Matsmai up. 
In' fact, this latter city itself was settled centuries since 
simply to establish a firm footing on an island singularly 
remarkable for the quantities of salmon which fed along 
its shores, and which on the more northern end " were 
often so plentiful as to be dipped out with hand-nets 
and paddles." "Whenever you see an indentation in the 
coast, there you find one or more of these villages: I 
don't think we could have passed less than several hun- 
dred of them. And this great population along the 
sea-shore certainly renders probable the assertion of 
Golownin, to the effect that the island of Jesso is with- 
out population in the interior, the nature of the country 



WHAT THE JAPANESE EAT. 307 

being unfavourable to cultivation. And, from what we 
ourselves have seen of the diet of these people, the sea- 
shore must be their most desirable location. I doubt 
if two Japanese out of three ever eat any article (rice 
and sweet potatoes excepted) which they do not obtain 
from the sea. Fish, shell-fish, gelatine, and almost 
every variety of sea-weed, are regarded as wholesome, 
and some of the latter are really very palatable. Almost 
every one has, when confined to a sick-room, relished a 
bowl of Irish or Ceylon moss ; and much of the Japa- 
nese sea-weed, when cooked, resembles that preparation. 
May not the succession of villages along an uncultivated 
sea-shore, as seen by all vessels passing on their voyages, 
have given rise to the prevalent idea of the marvellous 
population of the empire ? And does not this succession 
of mountain after mountain, of range rising above range, 
indicate the existence in their bosoms of great mineral 
wealth ? I am no geologist, and therefore am not en- 
titled to an opinion ; yet, from what I saw, heard, and 
read while in and about Japan, I believe that gold, quick- 
silver, and coal exist in abundance in the mountains of 
Jesso. But to return to the town of Tomari. 

This, as I have before remarked, was a fishing-settle- 
ment, and contained some hundred houses, with a pro- 
bable population of from six to eight hundred : of these 
some fifty or more are Japanese, and the remainder the 
native Kuriles. Of these latter we had seen several 
hundreds at our various "wooding-up" places; and now 
I will proceed with my necessarily incomplete description 
of their general appearance, habits, &c. 

Dr. Pritchard, in his excellent work entitled " The 



308 THE AINU, OR HAIRY KURILES. 

jSTatural History of Man," has, upon the authority of 
various writers, the following page in regard to the 
subject: — 

' The best account of the Ainos that we have yet 
received is to be found in the narrative of Von Krusen- 
stern's voyage. 

" Some particulars respecting them were given by La 
Perouse and Broughton. The former of these writers 
says that ' the Ainos are rather below the middle stature, 
being at most five feet two or four inches high. They 
have a thick, bushy beard, black, rough hair, hanging 
straight down ; and, excepting in the beard, they have the 
appearance of the Kamtschadales, only their countenance 
is much more regular. The women are ugly enough : 
their colour, which is dark, their coal-black hair combed 
over their faces, blue-painted lips, and tattooed hands, 
allow them no pretensions to beauty. 

" La Perouse says 'they are a very superior race to the 
Chinese, Japanese, and Mantschoos, and their counte- 
nances are more regular, and more similar to those of 

Europeans The inhabitants of the Bay of Crillon 

were particularly beautiful and of regular features.' The 
same writer adds, that ' their skin is as dark as that of 
the Algerines.' Broughton says 'they are of a light 
copper-colour ;' but Yon Krusenstern declares that they 
are nearly black. 

"But the most remarkable circumstance in the physical 
character of the Ainos is, that, though the eastern Asiatics 
are in general very deficient in hair and almost beardless, 
they are the most hairy race of people in the world. 
'Their beards,' says La Perouse, 'hang upon their breasts, 



EXTRACT FROM GOLOWNIN'S WORK. 309 

and their arms, neck, and back are covered with hair. I 
observed this circumstance,' he adds, 'as a general cha- 
racteristic, for it is easy to find individuals equally hairy 
in Europe. 

" Broughton declares that their bodies are almost uni- 
versally covered with long, black hair, and that he observed 
the same appearance even in some young children." 

The foregoing is what Dr. Pritchard says on the sub- 
ject; while Golownin, writing from personal observation 
during his strange captivity, remarks : — 

"The appearance of the inhabitants of Matsmai, (Jesse,) 
and of the other Kurile islands, shows clearly that they are 
of one race ; the features, the uncommonly-brown colour 
of the hairy body, the black, shining hair, the beard, — 
every thing, in short, — indicate a common origin. The 
only difference between them now is, that the Ainu of 
Matsmai are handsomer, stronger, and more active than 
the Kuriles, to which, perhaps, a more active life and 
abundance of good food have greatly contributed; for 
the Japanese have traded with them for these four centu- 
ries, and bring them not only rice, but even articles of 
luxury, such as tobacco, sage, &c. The other Kuriles, 
particularly the northern ones, live in indigence, feed on 
roots, sea-animals, and wild fowl, of which they, indeed, 
are never in want ; but idleness often hinders them from 
collecting a proper stock, so that sometimes they pass 

several days without food, in indolence and sleep 

In trifles the Kuriles like to imitate us: thus, for exam- 
ple, they shave their beards and wear long tails. The 
Ainu, on the contrary, wear their beards, and cut their 
hair like the Russian wagoners, only something shorter. 



310 CONTINUATION OF EXTKACT. 

Our Kuriles wear Russian dresses of all fasliions, as they 
receive tliein; for tlie Ainu, on tlie other hand, the Ja- 
panese prepare a certain dress, according to the Japanese 
cut, and of hempen cloth, which resembles our coarse, 
unbleached sailcloth. The elders receive cotton and silk 
dresses. If one of them particularly distinguishes him- 
self, the Japanese Government rewards him with a splen- 
did dress embroidered with gold and silver, or with sabres 

in silver scabbards The Government has ordered 

that the Ainu shall not work for any Japanese, not even 
for the crown, without payment. For every kind of 
work a price is fixed, with which they are, however, not 
content, because it is not answerable to their labour." 
And again : — " The Ainu live in winter in what are called 
jurten, or huts of earth, and in summer in straw huts, 
in which they have no benches or seats, but sit on the 
ground, either on the grass or on Japanese mats. Their 
food consists of rice, which the Japanese supply them 
with, of fish, sea-animals, sea-cabbage, wild herbs, and 
roots. Many have gardens in the Japanese fashion ; 
others employ themselves in the chase : they kill, with 
their spears and arrows, bears, deer, and hare, catch 

birds, and also eat dogs The Ainu are, in geneual, 

extremely uncleanly. They never wash their hands, 
faces, or bodies, except when they have to go into the 
water to do some work : they never wash their clothes. 
.... Polygamy is allowed among them : they have two 
or three wives, and the elders still more. 

" They have no writing, and, consequently, no written 
laws : every thing is handed down from one generation 
to another The total want of words of abuse in 



HOW OUR OBSERVATIONS COMPARED. 311 

their language is a proof of their mildness of manners. 
.... The sun and moon are their divinities. But they 
have neither temples nor priests, nor any religious laws. 
.... They have here [Matsmai] oaks, firs, yew, cypress, 
birch, lime, various kinds of poplars, maple, aspen, moun- 
tain-ash, and many others Of quadrupeds there 

are bears, wolves, hares, rabbits, deer, wild goats, sables, 
and field-mice ; in summer, geese, ducks, and swans visit 
them. In general, all the same sorts of land and sea 
birds are found here as in Kamtschatka." 

My own observations proved the gentlemen from 
whose works the foregoing have been so freely quoted, 
to have been well informed in the first case (except it be 
in the case of universal hairiness of body) and a true 
observer in the last ; while, at the same time, they enable 
me to make a few general comments. 

The hairy endowments of these people are by no 
means so extensive as the foregoing quotations lead one 
to suppose. As a general rule, they shave the front of 
the head a la Japanese, and, though the remaining hair is 
undoubtedly very thick and coarse, yet it is also very 
straight, and owes its bushy appearance to the simple 
fact of constant scratching and seldom combing. This 
remaining hair they part in the middle and allow to 
grow within an inch of the shoulder. The prevailing 
hue is black, but it often possesses a brownish cast, 
and these exceptions cannot be owing to the sun, as 
it is but reasonable to suppose that they suffer a like 
exposure from infancy up. Like the hair, their beard 
is bushy, and from the same causes. It is generally 
black, but often brownish, and seldom exceeds five or 



312 EXAGBRATION OF EARLY WRITERS. 

six inclies in lengtti. I only saw one case where it 
reached more than half-way to the waist; and here the 
owner was evidently proud of its great length, as he had 
it twisted into innumerable small ringlets, well greased, 
and kept in something like order. His hair, however, 
was as bushy as that of any other. As this individual 
was evidently the most "hairy Kurile" of the party, we 
selected him as the one most likely to substantiate the 
assertion of Broughton in regard to " their bodies being 
almost universally covered with long black hair." He 
readily bared his arms and shoulders for inspection, and 
(if I except a tuft of hair on each shoulder-blade of the 
size of one's hand) we found his body to be no more hairy 
than that of several of our own men. The existence of 
those two tufts of hair caused us to examine several others, 
which examinations established his as an isolated case. 

Their beard, which grows well up under the rather 
retreating eye, their bushy brows, and generally wild ap- 
pearance and expression of countenance, give them a 
most savage look, singularly at variance with their mild, 
almost cringing, manners. "When drinking, they have a 
habit of lifting the hanging mustache over the nose ; 
and it was this practice, I suppose, which caused an early 
writer to say, " their beards are so long as to require lift- 
ing up." Though undoubtedly below the middle height 
as a general rule, I still saw several who would be called 
quite large men in any country; and, though the average 
height be not more than "five feet two or four inches," 
they make up the difference in an abundance of muscle. 
They are a well-formed race, with the usual powers of 
endurance accorded to savages indicated in their expan- 







THE AINU, OR HAIRY KURILES. 



THE DARK SIDE OF THE PICTURE. 313 

sive chests and swelling muscles. Their features partake 
more of the European cast than any other. They are 
generally regular, some even noble, while all are devoid 
of that expression of treacherous cunning which stands 
out in such bold relief from the faces of their masters, — 
the Japanese and northern Chinese. I cannot but agree 
with the author of the foregoing remark as to their 
superiority over those nations. 

The clothing of those who came under our obser- 
vation never consisted of more than three articles, 
and seldom of more than one. Generally, a dressing- 
gown-like garment, made from the inner bark of an 
abundant tree, reaching as low as the knee and confined 
round the waist by a sash of similar material, constituted 
their entire suit. Occasionally they wore grass sandals, 
sometimes even leggings of woven bark reaching as 
high as the knee ; but these cases were rare. Krusenstern 
says that "they clothe themselves with the skins of dogs 
and other animals in winter," but we saw no signs of 
any such garments. Probably they clothe themselves 
lightly in summer in order to appreciate the warmth of 
skins during severe changes. 

The Ainos are unpleasantly remarkable as a people in 
two respects, — ^viz. : the primitive nature of their costume 
and their extreme filthiness of person. I doubt if an 
Ainu ever washes; hence the existence of vermin in every 
thing that pertains to them, as well as a great variety of 
cutaneous diseases, for which they appear to have few or 
no remedies. There is another side to the picture, how- 
ever, and it is a bright one. Their moral and social 
qualities, as exhibited both in their intercourse with each 



314 THE BRIGHT SIDE OF THE PICTURE, 

otlier and with strangers, is beautiful to behold. Thej 
are a people who, if once restored to the freedom of 
which they were so glaringly deprived, would be pecu- 
liarly fitted, both by superiority of intellect and natural 
mildness of disposition, to receive the truths of a gospel 
against which sensuality and innate rascality close the 
eyes of the nations w^hich surround them. I am not un- 
aware of the fact that years have elapsed since the intro- 
duction by the Russians of the tenets of the Greek 
Church into their more northern islands, and of the very 
few sincere converts which that doctrine has obtained: 
but what more can be expected when the priest visits his 
flock but annually, remains a few days, and then leaves 
them to the association of sailors and Russian hunters, 
the nature of whose lives is hy no means calculated to 
impress them favourably in regard to their religion ? 

"Love to one's neighbour," true generosity of disposi- 
tion, a general cheerfulness of manner, and a modest and 
retiring bearing, are general characteristics which strike 
the eye of even the passing stranger. It is greatly to be 
lamented that a single bold stroke of villany on the part 
of the Japanese should have degraded a great part of 
their race to an apparently-endless servitude. 

I cannot account for Broughton's assertion in regard 
to their being of "a light copper-colour," unless he re- 
ferred to a few isolated cases. As I have previously 
remarked, we saw several hundred men, women, and 
children, and these were all of a dark broimiish-black, 
with one exception ; which exception was a male adult, 
strongly suspected of being a half-breed. In regard to 
the several quotations which I have inserted from the 



THEIR MODES OP SALUTATION. 315 

truthful pages of Captain Golownin, I see nothing 
that clashes with my own experience. From our own 
observation since arriving in Japanese waters, we have 
all been forcibly struck with the remarkable truthfulness 
of the contents of that writer's pages : it is undoubtedly 
the best work extant on Japan, (Commodore Perry's not 
excepted,) and as such may be read with confidence by 
all who feel an interest in that mysterious people. 

The Ainu mode of salutation at joining and parting 
company is worthy of remark. They bring the tips 
of the fingers up to the eyes, cast the latter upon the 
ground, and, in a low voice, indulge in quite a lengthy 
harangue, while stroking the beard from the eyes down- 
ward. This latter operation is repeated as long as the 
harangue lasts, at the end of which they glance toward 
the person saluted, and, if he is looking another way, 
the process is repeated until they catch his eye. This 
also seems to be their manner of returning thanks for 
any present received. Their sign of farewell, however, 
consists in a repeated elevation and depression of the 
extended hands, something after the manner of an 
Irish nurse dancing her charge at arm's length without 
regard to consequences. (I have had a latent feeling of 
revenge against all Irish nurses ever since one of them 
"danced" me out of her arms upon a brick pavement 
some thirty years since.) In addition to this, when one 
is leaving in a boat, they throw after her receding form 
curiously-carved sticks of spruce, whose fine shavings 
drawn curlingly to either end give them very much 
the appearance of a calker's paying-mop previous to 
saturation in the boiling pitch. What this ceremony 



316 WE LEAVE JAPAN AND THE JAPANESE, 

means, or what was the nature of their mumbled words, 
we were never able to learn. 

So much for the "hairy Kuriles:" and now for the 
winding-up of our survey along their coasts. 

Having filled up with wood at Tomari, (for which the 
Japanese would receive nothing,) and fixed the astro- 
nomical position of Cape Soya, the northeastern ex- 
tremity of Jesso, we rounded this latter under steam, 
and filled in the coast-line as far to the southward as 
Cape Shaef, when, a dense fog putting a stop to all 
further work, the head of the old ci-devant anchor-hoy 
was again pointed to the northward, and, after we had 
crossed the Straits of La Perouse, we anchored near a 
rock known as "dangerous" since the time of the unfor- 
tunate La Perouse. At least, our dead reckoning and the 
distant bellowing of seals indicated us to be in its vicinity; 
but whether we were or not the dense fog rendered it im- 
possible for us to say. This was the same fog that had ar- 
rested our work on the previous evening, since which time 
our circle of vision had certainly not exceeded one hun- 
dred yards in diameter; and, if it was to be the exponent 
of the weather we were to expect throughout the Okotsk 
Sea, we were indeed entering upon a desperate work. 

"Blindman's bufi'," among children, is undoubtedly a 
pleasant species of recreation ; but, when it comes to be 
indulged in between vessels and rocks, its character 
assumes quite a different phase. We were now clear 
of Japan, and at anchor upon the verge of the Okotsk 
Sea, awaiting a fair wind to carry us across it to the 
southern point of Kamtschatka. 

This was the 15th of July, 1855. 



CHAPTER XVn. 

WB KEACH THE PENINSULA OF KAMTSCHATKA, FOLLOW ITS WEST COAST 
TO THE NORTHWARD, AND DISCOVER A COAL-MINE AND A HALF-BURIED 

VILLAGE AFTER WHICH WE PROVE A NEW-FASHIONED BOOTJACK, AND 

TAKE A DIP INTO THE SCIENCE OF GEOLOGY — ^WE FIND THAT SHOWEE- 
BATHS ARE NOT ALWAYS CLEANSING. 

We had not long to wait for our fair wind; and, 
though anxious to locate "dangerous rock" astronomi- 
cally before leaving those unknown shores, we finally 
despaired of the fog clearing away, and called, "All 
hands up anchor !" The location of that rock would 
have been a most appropriate winding-up to the vast 
amount of work which we had accomplished since the 
commencement of this portion of the survey at the 
quiet port of Hey-da. 

The end of a half-hour saw us under all sail and no 
steam, with the propeller disconnected, and a fine breeze 
on our quarter, progressing at the promising (?) rate of 
four and a half knots an hour upon our foggy path of over 
six hundred miles. Poor " old John !" miserable old tub ! 
Months have passed since I and my companions in 
misery left your fated hull to the tender mercies of the 
officials of the San Francisco navy-yard, and thus de- 
prived you of the power of drowning us some fine morn- 
ing; but I saw, by the Philadelphia "Evening Bulletin" 
of April 30, 1856, that you have been provided with a 

317 



318 WE REACH KAMTSCHATKA. 

new set of flesh-and-blood machines and sent up to 
Puget Sound to engage in warlike deeds with the 
Indians, instead of being broken up for firewood. How 
have those officers and men rendered thefliselves ob- 
noxious to the "powers that be," dear John, that they 
should be thus sent to sea in such a miserable old craft 
as you are? Are we so plentiful and useless just at 
present that a few from our midst won't be missed ? or 
is it that the Government can't afford to break you up 
and build a safe vessel ? But my feelings are running 
away with me, John ; and so let us return to our passage 
across the Okotsk Sea; which having accomplished in 
eight days, — sharp work for you, John ! — we rub our 
eyes one morning about three o'clock, and, shading 
them with the right hand from the rays of the rising 
sun, gaze upon a long, low sand-beach, which our 
chronometers tell us is the west coast of Kamtsehatka. 
It was on the morning of the 24th of July that we, 
cautiously feeling our way with the lead toward the 
expected shore, discovered the low sand-beach already 
mentioned. Further than that there was nothing to be 
seen, the weather being so hazy as to shut out entirely 
the high land of the interior. Toward noon, however, 
it lighted up, and enabled us to get good observations 
on the beach ; after which we hoisted up the boat and 
steered a north-by- west course along the beach, keeping 
it in sight at from one to two miles' distance, and carry- 
ing beautifully-regular soundings over a fine anchoring- 
bottom of mud and sand. These soundings we made 
at regular intervals of ten minutes, and for hours and 
hours there would not be the fourth of a fathom diifer- 



REACHING THE OCEAN'S BED. 319 

ence between them. It was a vast marine plain that we 
were sailing over, and the land itself was low and level 
and not elevated more than a few feet above the sea. I 
had expected to find a country of volcanoes and a dangerous 
and variable bottom. Possibly there were volcanoes in the 
interior and an uneven bottom farther out to sea; but, 
for the last few days of our passage from Japan, the lead 
had told us that we were sailing over a beautifully smooth 
and inclined plain. "We were agreeably disappointed in 
all this ; and, the heavy " chop-sea" through which we had 
rolled for the last week having left us, and the day still 
continuing beautifully clear, we began to flatter our- 
selves that coasting along Kamtschatka was going to 
be a very fine thing. But, before I follow this coasting 
any further, let me say a few words about the depth of 
water, &c. between the Straits of La Perouse and the 
point where we rubbed our eyes, some one hundred 
miles to the northward of Cape Lapatka, the southern 
extremity of the peninsula along which we were run- 
ning. 

As I have already remarked, we were engaged eight 
days in the passage, being under sail only, as it was 
necessary to reserve our coal for the actual work of sur- 
veying. During these eight days we sounded with deep- 
sea twine whenever the ordinary line failed to get bot- 
tom, and thus kept up the "line of soundings" with great 
success : only once did we fail, and then twelve hundred 
fathoms were run out with no sign of bottom ; the breeze 
blew quite fresh, and caused us to drift away from the 
lead too fast. Both before and after this failure, how- 
ever, less line brought up specimens of the ocean's bed. 



320 A SINGULAR WORM. 

These specimens generally consisted of mud and sand, 
dead shells, and small stones, the former often containing 
a singular worm, incrusted in a brittle shell resembling in 
form the figure 8, and which, upon being broken out of 
said shell, twisted about the deck in a most lively man- 
ner. They retained life in the atmosphere several minutes 
after being thus exposed, — longer than one would have 
imagined, when it is recollected that they had previously 
existed under several hundred fathoms of water. 

Many persons have an idea that in the high latitudes 
of Kamtschatka and Siberia even the summers are cold: 
our thermometers during the passage gave us an ave- 
rage temperature of 50 degrees, while we subsequently 
found it uncomfortably warm. And this was in lat. 
60° l!^. "We found the weather, as a general thing, very 
changeable, — sometimes disagreeably cool, and then 
again quite warm. 

On the 26th, having run some two hundred miles to 
the northward, we came to the first high land yet seen ; 
and here our soundings began to lose their beautiful 
regularity, and the coast, taking a bend to the eastward, 
caused us to change our course to N. by E. Before 
doing this, however, we came to anchor, lowered a boat, 
and placed her at the disposal of the master, to enable 
him to land on the beach and fix the position of this 
point by astronomical observation. A number of the 
mess, curious to feel the soil of " despotic Russia" under 
their feet, or hoping to shoot an eatable animal of some 
sort, took passage with him, while we, the remainder, 
amused ourselves by fishing. 

A number of fine flounders, and one immense crab, re- 



A GLOKIOUS OLD CRAB. 321 

warded our exertions, Avhile the shore-party returned 
shortly after noon, full of glowing accounts of black bear 
and gigantic salmon, but without either the one or the 
other : they had neither killed or caught any thing, and 
were in high glee at the prospect of fried flounders and 
lobster-salad to be made from the enormous crab, whose 
legs had to be broken off to get him into our largest pot. 

This fellow, I think, deserves more than a passing 
comment ; for I have subsequently searched in vain for 
his counterpart through various authorities, and am 
forced to the conclusion that they are a half-crab, half- 
lobster freak of nature, larger even than the latter, and 
existing only on those or similar unfrequented shores. 

I say "they," because the shore-party reported the 
beach as being crowded with similar shells, the meat 
having been most probably scratched out by the bears, 
which abound along that coast in great numbers. Some 
of the shells seen were from seven to nine inches in 
diameter, almost round, and quite thick and strong. It 
was in the claws that the animal resembled the lobster, 
every thing else being more like the crab. When the 
fellow that we had caught alongside was spread out on 
the deck upon his back, his legs measured three feet two 
inches from tip to tip ; and when we turned him over he 
raised himself on those tips several inches above the deck, 
as if to command a better view of things in general. His 
smallest legs were as large as one's little finger; and it 
was in one of these that the hook had accidentally caught, 
the shell being strong enough to lift him over the ship's 
side. Taking the taste of the bears for good authority, 
we immediately boiled and transferred him into a crab- 

21 



322 ' THE crab's revenge. 

lobster-salad, sufficient for the whole mess, and, unlike 
the lobster, remarkably juicy and tender. The doctor 
listened to several writhing applicants during the suc- 
ceeding night. 

- After all, it seemed that our shore-party had narrowly 
escaped a most unpleasant time. Upon arriving near the 
beach, the surf was found to be running very high ; but 
they went at it boldly, and, jumping out at the right 
time, the boat's crew ran her up "high and dry." They 
were very well content to get wet no higher than the 
knee. 

The master then occupied himself with his observa- 
tions, while the ramblers started with their guns and 
revolvers back into the country. The sight of large and 
numerous bear-tracks served to create a feeling of affec- 
tionate companionship which kept them pretty well 
together: they had no idea of attacking Bruin on his 
own soil, singly, and advanced with prudent caution as 
they neared a ridge or turned the bend of a ravine. 
Finally, they came to a river — a broad and noble-looking 
stream — whose snow-fed waters seemed alive with salmon 
of the largest description and capable of floating a liner 
for miles into the interior. They did not reach its 
mouth, however, and could not say if it was free or 
crossed by a bar : from our past observation we inferred 
the latter. 

They found the country sandy, undulating, and mise- 
rably barren ; not a sign of habitation, and, in short, a 
most cheerless-looking spot. They returned to the boat, 
after an hour's tramp, with a few semi-transparent stones 
as their only prizes, and w^ere there received with the 



AN UNFORTUNATE CHANGE OF WEATHER. 323 

information of "a dozen or more bear" having been 
seen by the boat's crew farther down the beach. 

"What a pity we didn't go that way!" said one. 

"Maybe it's better we didn't," said another. 

" jT'm going after them now !" said a third. 

"And the boat's going on board," said the master, as 
he closed his boxes and beckoned to the crew. 

"Just like our luck!" exclaimed the last speaker, in a 
voice of fleeting disgust: "we might as well have stopped 
on board." 

Ten minutes later, and the boat was at her davits, 
while the shrill whistle of our only boatswain's mate was 
ringing around the silent decks, calling the wearied crew 
to the oft-repeated work of heaving up the anchor, and 
telling of work, work, nothing but work, as long as the 
daylight lasted. Another ten minutes, and we were 
again under way, continuing through rain and wind the 
interminable coast-line, — a stormy end to an unexpected 
spell of good weather. 

We had not worked along thus many hours when the 
wind hauled ahead and increased to a gale ; so we had to 
heave to and let it blow by. It lasted all that night, 
and we were rapidly losing much of our hardly-gained 
ground, when the weather fortunately moderated, and we 
were enabled once more to close in with the beach and 
continue the survey. As we thus worked our toilsome 
way to the northward, we found the low, flat land along 
which we had been hitherto running, gradually changing 
its nature to that of bold and towering heights that lifted 
their snow-clad crests far into the foggy sky and shoved 
their rocky bases well out into the sea in the shape of 



324 EXCITEMENT OVER "FRESH BEAR-TRACKS." 

rugged promontories, whose frequent ravines were filled 
with melting snow and dark, shapeless rocks, and whose 
ridges and sides were covered by a dense and luxuriant 
vegetation. It was singular to see the snows of the 
Korth and the rank vegetation of the South existing 
alongside of each other, where we had expected to find 
nothing but the former and a stunted growth of the 
arctic pine. 

Every now and then we would pass a turbid stream 
that owed its periodical existence to the melting snows 
of the last winter ; and we would generally see a wander- 
ing bear, or flock of geese or ducks, near its mouth, when 
we would amuse ourselves by sending a Sharpe's-rifle 
messenger to notify them of our proximity, though the 
distance was always too great to enable us to fire with 
any precision. 

As we thus ran along over that unknown ground, with 
a good look-out, bad charts, and an active lead, as our 
only pilots, we would often stop off the mouths of those 
rivers, or under the sheltering heights of those rugged 
promontories, to get astronomical observations; and, 
upon these occasions, our assistant botanist would accom- 
pany the shore-party, and generally return with some rare 
or previously-unknown arctic plant, while the gunners of 
the party would often get highly excited over "fresh bear- 
tracks," and probabl}' bring back with them something 
more substantial, in the shape of a brace of finely-fla- 
voured ducks, or some unfortunate goose. 

The observations which were thus obtained invariably 
proved our best charts to be dangerously incorrect. Upon 
one occasion I remember that we found the ship's posi- 



UNEXCITING SHIPWRECKS. 325 

tion (on the chart) to be some distance in-shore. This 
we regarded in the light of a most innocent shipwreck, 
and enjoyed it accordingly. "When this took place, 
we were in lat. 58° 40' K and long. 158° 43' E., the 
beach bearing from northeast to southwest of us, and dis- 
tant about five miles. We subsequently experienced 
many similar shipwrecks, and upon one occasion found 
ourselves upon the side of an extinct volcano that was 
actually more than sixty miles from the sea. So much 
for the amount of reliance that can be placed upon the 
best charts of that region. Those which we then ob- 
tained data for, and which will shortly be forthcoming 
from the able hands of Commander Rodgers, will conse- 
quently be of rare value to our whalers, who frequent that 
coast, and annually lose one or more of their fleet simply 
from the want of good charts. 

As we thus made a running survey of those unknown 
regions, we took good care to obtain and preserve not 
only specimens from the hills and beach, but from the 
bottom of the sea also. "We had two species of "patent 
leads" for this latter work, and they both acted admirably. 
One of them was intended for bringing up specimens of 
the bottom when the depth of water exceeded two or 
three hundred fathoms, and did actually once bring up 
a thimbleful of sand and mud from the enormous depth 
of three thousand five hundred fathoms. That was in 
the North Pacific. The other was intended to be used 
in from one fathom to one or two hundred, and it often 
brought up a pint or more at a single haul. It was 
curious to wash out these specimens in a bucket of 
water and hunt for shells and other " wonders of the 



326 Brooke's deep-sea explorer. 

deep" in mud and sand that had existed at the bottom 
of the ocean for centuries in their undisturbed seclusion. 

It is also worthy of remark that both of these admi- 
rable inventions sprang from the brains of two of our 
own officers, — the shoal-water one having been made in 
Hong-Kong, under the immediate direction of Com- 
mander Rodgers, while the "deep-sea explorer" was got 
up by Passed Midshipman (now Lieutenant) John M. 
Brooke, the able astronomer of the expedition, and who 
is even now trying to bring it before the notice of Con- 
gress. 

In anticipation of these leads "working well," we had 
provided ourselves with several hundred small vials, in 
which every thing worth preserving was stowed away, 
after which it was sealed up and labelled carefully, for 
future examination. 

There was one remarkable fact which we noticed about 
the soundings along that entire coast: this was their re- 
markable regularity, without regard to the greater or less 
elevation of the land along which they were obtained. 
Generally speaking, (as in the case of the northern and 
southern shores of the Mediterranean,) soundings are 
found to vary with the nature of the land; that is, deep 
water is generally found off bold headlands, and shoal 
water off low ranges: but in this case we found only 
ten or twelve fathoms abreast of the highest points, 
which was no increase to what we had carried along ex- 
tensive tracts of country whose greatest elevation was not 
probably more than fifteen or twenty feet. 

These towering, precipitous, and black-looking points 
presented a totally different appearance, when you were 



POETRY OF FEELING VS. GALLINIPPERS. 327 

abreast of them, from what they did when their sides 
only were exposed to view. It seemed as if they were 
mountains of loose black rock that had been lightly 
covered by a fertile soil, and then the end of them that 
projected into the sea broken off and transported to "parts 
unknown," leaving their black-looking faces in striking 
contrast with their green sides and snow-filled ravines. 
We found them occurring at intervals of several miles, 
invariably enclosing long strips of a shingle or sandy 
beach, from which the green lowland retreated into an 
undulating country which was itself backed by the blue 
mountains of the distant interior. These latter were 
generally either perfect or truncated cones, and combined 
with other unmistakable signs to establish the fact of 
previous volcanic action. 

It was an interesting occupation to watch these 
changing scenes through our glasses ; and as we watched 
them, we admired the native grandeur of those towering 
promontories, the shining beaches darkened here and 
there by mountain-torrents flowing from the ravines of 
melting snow, the undulating country covered by its 
short-lived but rank vegetation, and the distant cones of 
heavenly blue, and could not but regret the prevalence of 
those arctic winters which for eight out of the twelve 
months cover such a beautiful region with one vast 
mantle of dazzling snow. This poetical state of mind, 
however, received a severe shock on our first landing, 
through the instrumentality of thousands of swarms of 
the gallinipper-breed of mosquito, who, regarding us in 
the light of most welcome visitors, soon succeeded in 
stinging us into a far different mood of feeling. These 



828 HOW WE OBTAIN A GOOD APPETITE. 

attentions of theirs brought vividly before my slumber- 
ing memory the assertion of a long-unseen messmate, to 
the effect that "the mosquito, though a small insect, had 
often been known to move a man weighing over two 
hundred," and, further, caused us to return on board with 
good appetites, the result of the unlooked-for exercise 
which w^e had been forced to indulge in in sheer self- 
defence. 

We not only saw mountains and green grass as we thus 
cruised along, but would often fall in with one or more 
wandering whale-ships, sometimes homeward bound with 
full cargoes, sometimes hove to under reduced sail while 
their boats were chasing a M^hale, and at other times 
riding to their uneasy anchor off' some rocky shore while 
engaged in "trying out" the oil of some captured mon- 
ster, whose huge carcass, after being deprived of its 
blubber, would be cut adrift from the ship's side and 
allowed to float unheeded before the wind and sea, while 
another of his ill-fated companions, who had all along 
been moored securely astern, would then be hauled up to 
undergo a like " stripping." 

We would generally heave to or anchor near all such 
vessels, and communicate with them, in the hope of get- 
ting information in regard to a reported coal-stratum that 
we were in search of, or to give them tracings of our sur- 
veys, and were more than once amused at their peculiar 
mode of navigating. Upon asking one of their captains 
how he found the charts, he replied, in an indifferent, 
don't-care sort of way, "Oh, pretty fair; I don't find 
any thing much out:" and, upon our telling him of some 
of our previously-mentioned "innocent shipwrecks," he 



ONE REASON WHY SO MANY WHALERS ARE LOST. 329 

expressed great surprise, and guessed that he'd "better 
be taking another observation soon;" and, upon being 
pressed a little further on the same subject, he candidly 
acknowledged that he had not used his chronometer for 
a month, — having been too busy with whales to pay any 
attention to the position of his ship. At that we ceased 
to wonder over the loss of so many whalers : our only 
wonder was that so many ever reached home in safety. 

I have already remarked that we were in search of a 
reported coal-mine. We had heard from a whaling-cap- 
tain that it existed along the northern part of that coast, 
and that he had once picked up a boat-load of it on the 
beach, which burned beautifully in his stove, &c. &c. But 
unfortunately he had not taken any observations for some 
weeks at the time of his discovery, and was consequently 
unable to give us its latitude within any thing like rea- 
sonable limits. "We only knew, therefore, that there was 
said to be coal along that coast at some point, and that, 
unless we found it, the "old John" would soon be left to 
depend upon her sails alone for motive-power and our 
chances of ever reaching San Francisco be alarmingly 
decreased. We consequently kept a good look-out as we 
ran along the broken shore, and in the end were amply 
rewarded for our pains. 

It was about two hours after the noon of July 30 
that we threw our maintopsail to the mast, stopped the 
engine, and hove to off the entrance of what promised 
to be a fine and extensive harbour, which we subse- 
quently determined to be in lat. 61° 15' N". and long. 
161° 31' E. We had followed the coast down very closely 
heretofore ; and, as the general appearance of the land 



330 HOW WE PULL BEFORE A SWELL. 

about this entrance gave greater indication of the exist- 
ence of coal than any we had yet seen, the captain de- 
termined to run in for the night at any rate, and leave 
again the next morning should we fail in discovering 
any. 

As we had no chart of this harbour, however, as we 
could see a huge pile of rocks off its mouth, and as there 
was a very heavy swell running in at the time, it would 
have been any thing but prudent to have risked the ship 
by entering without some previous examination ; and so 
a boat was lowered, and I, having the watch below, was 
called to go in her. "We had a fine time getting in after 
we were once started, for the light whale-boat skimmed 
over the heavy swells like a feather, sinking out of sight 
in their deep valleys, or being lifted on their rolling 
breasts, as the case might be. "We stopped every two 
minutes to get a cast of the lead, until the water began 
to shoal to ten or twelve fathoms, when we began to cast 
it as fast as it could be hauled in. 

As we thus pulled in toward the passage, the harbour 
opened beautifully, and I began to think that we were 
finding a magnificently-protected anchorage on those 
inhospitable shores, when suddenly the lead gave but 
four fathoms, then three, and lastly only two, as the 
depth of water. So we immediately turned and pulled 
at right angles to our former course, when the water 
again deepened, seeming to promise a fair anchorage 
under the huge pile of rocks already alluded to, and 
which we now found to lie right in the centre of the 
entrance to the bay. As we pulled in this new direction 
and looked back at the harbour, there could not have 



DESCRIPTION OF THE ANCHORAGE. 331 

been presented a more promising appearance of good 
entry and subsequent shelter. 

It was in the form of a pot-hook, the handle being 
represented by the mainland, and the hook-part by a 
towering and curved promontory, while the "huge pile 
of rocks," which proved to be one immense irregular 
mass surrounded by an infinite number of smaller ones, 
was situated equidistant from either of those points, and 
about a mile seaward of an imaginary line drawn from 
the point of the hook to the opposite side of the handle. 
At this latter extremity of the line, where it joined the 
mainland, were to be seen several mound-like objects, 
having posts and poles stuck in and around them, and 
looking very much like one of the half-buried villages 
which we had read of as being common to Kamtschatka. 
"We could see no smoke, however, and thence concluded 
it to be uninhabited. 

In passing the rock for which we were now pulling 
back, I had expected to find good water inside the hook ; 
but, upon arriving at our imaginary line, it had shoaled, 
as I say, to two fathoms, and so, having given up all hope 
of finding an anchorage for the ship inside of the hook, 
we were now looking for one under the shelter of the 
rock. This latter, though quite small when compared 
with the false harbour, was nevertheless quite large 
enough to break the sea as it rolled in, thus creating a 
kind of uneasy anchorage under its lee, that was only 
acceptable from the fact of there being no other; and I 
therefore picked out a twelve-fathom hole, having a mud 
bottom and passably-smooth surface, and, having let go 
our little anchor near its centre, hoisted a flag as a signal 



332 PHILOSOPHY VS. THE PHALACROCORAX CRISTATUS. 

to the ship, which had been following the boat slowly 
in, that she might come thus far, at any rate, without 
danger. In about ten minutes after this, she was 
alongside of us, when she let go her anchor, and com- 
menced to roll with such energy that we experienced no 
little difficulty in approaching and climbing her rusty 
old sides. 

The noise created by the chain in running out after 
the anchor, seemed to cause considerable alarm to im- 
mense numbers of a large and black duck-like bird, that 
had their thousand nests in the crevices of the rock under 
which we had anchored, and who left said nests with a 
sharp discordant cry, as the unusual sound startled them 
in their isolated haunt and caused them to fly over and 
about us in inconceivable numbers. They proved to be 
the aquatic fowl vulgarly known as the shag, and to the 
ornithologist as the "Phalacrocorax cristatus" — a crested, 
long-uecked cormorant, that we subsequently shot in 
great numbers as an article of food, (don't start, reader,) 
though I must acknowledge that the captain and a few 
other philosophers were the only ones that ever succeeded 
in the treble task of swallowing, keeping down, and pro- 
perly digesting their (to me) unsavory flesh. From the 
immense numbers of this bird which covered this pile of 
rocks, we called the principal one " Shag Rock," and, as 
such, included it in our survey. 

"We had no sooner furled sails and got the ropes laid 
up about the decks, than two boats were called away, — one 
to go in search of coal along the inner shore of the 
curved promontory, and the other to follow down the 
mainland to the bottom of the pot-hook. In the first 



THE NORTHWEST PARROT. 333 

of these boats went the captain and Lawton ; while in 
the stern-sheets of the second reposed the master and 
our indefatigable doctor, with his small-bore Kentucky 
rifle to keep him company. Some of us also took the 
tomtit, (a boat smaller even than the dingy,) and pulled 
over to Shag Rock, with a heavy ship's musket and 
revolver each, where we soon commenced blazing away 
among the unfortunate shags and northwest parrots, with 
an energy of action and destructiveness of aim that 
promised to fill our boat before long. 

Though I had pulled in from the ship through hun- 
dreds of this latter bird while feeling the way for her, I 
have, until now, neglected to mention them, simply be- 
cause it was not until our landing on Shag Rock that we 
were enabled to get a close view of them. I have, since 
my return to the United States, searched through more 
than one writer on birds, hoping to find a description of 
this particular rarity, but without success. In the shape 
of its bill it approaches the puffin, and, in the arrange- 
ment of its head-feathers, the little parrakeet-auk ; but in 
other respects it differs widely from both of these birds. 
The opposite sketch is a mathematical drawing of the 
male and female, one-sixth life-size. I must therefore 
conclude that it is, at any rate, a rare specimen of the 
feathered tribe, and hence well worthy of a passing 
notice. The male is about the size of a large teal-duck, 
is covered with dense masses of variously-coloured 
feathers, and has the head and bill of a ijarroi, (hence 
the name given it by whalers,) surmounted, in the case 
of the female, by a rooster-tail-like crest of several 
inches in length, and, in the case of the male, adorned 



334 A TERRIBLE DISAPPOINTMENT. 

by two side-tufts as in the engraving. It is web-footed, 
has red legs, and in brilliancy of plumage is not excelled 
by the well-known Mandarin-duck of China, or the 
beautiful wood-duck of our own country. It was a 
fine sight to see them falling around us at every shot; 
and, as we took them up and felt their great weight 
and plumpness, we looked ahead a few hours, and our 
mouths watered as we saw them at the head of an im- 
aginary dinner-table, with the savory steam rising from 
their well-browned breasts, and the ready knife hovering 
over the upright fork. 

But alas for all human anticipations ! When we came 
to taste them, they were so tough, so fishy, and so musty, 
that it was impossible for the greatest lover of game 
among us to approach them: even the philosophical 
eaters of the less pretending "shags" shrunk aghast 
before this terrible disappointment, and loaded their 
plates with the black-looking fragments of the latter in 
preference. 

"When I say that our northwest parrot had the head 
and bill of the ordinary tropical bird of the same name, 
I must except the hole under the lower jaw, and the 
thick, black tongue of the latter ; but in all other respects 
the resemblance was very close. 

When we returned on board with a load of them after 
our impromptu shooting-excursion, we found that the 
exploring-parties had got back ahead of us, and that they 
had discovered a very accessible stratum of coal on the 
inner face of the promontory ; also a small river, empty- 
ing into the bottom of the hook, whose mouth was not 
blocked up by salmon, as we had been led to suppose by 




PLU«E„==Sr^ 



'NOR'WEST PA RROTS" — {M ALE AND FEMALE, ONE-SIXTH LIFE-SIZE.} 



THE VILLAGE PROVES TO BE INHABITED. 335 

whalers; and they farther told us tliat the "mound-like 
objects having sticks and poles stuck over and about 
them" had proved to be very comfortable houses, in 
which a number of natives were living. These latter 
were all males, however, and the entire apparent popula- 
tion of the village did not exceed fifteen souls. , "What 
they had done with their women and female children we 
never could ascertain, though we remained with them a 
week, during which time we traversed much of the sur- 
rounding country without seeing a sign of another living 
creature, not even so much as a bear. We finally con- 
cluded that they had some inner settlement, to which 
they had sent them for safe-keeping, and wisely gave up 
all idea of ever learning any thing on the subject. But 
let us return to Shag Rock. 

While we were seated around our long mess-table, 
gazing vacantly at the overrated parrots, and slowly 
making up our minds to commence the attack upon a 
huge piece of salt pork, the quartermaster came down 
and reported that the tide had already fallen five fathoms, 
and that it was siill falling. So, as we had heard from the 
whalers of these tides sometimes falling so much as to 
leave a ship anchored "high and dry" upon the rocks, we 
hurried on deck to see what it meant. Upon looking 
around, we were surprised to see the whole hook of the 
harbour some distance above the surface of the water, 
while pointed rocks had sprung up between us and the 
larger one under which we were anchored, like magic. 
This was the more singular, as we had noticed no upper 
current indicative of such a great rise and fall of tide, 
and we wondered without well knowing what to make 



336 WE ATTACK THE COAL-STRATUM. 

of it or what to expect next. Fortunately, we still had 
seven fathoms under us, and, as it only fell one more, our 
minds were put to rest. 

The morning after our timely discovery of coal, we 
"called all hands" bright and early, and sent Lawton, our 
chief-engineer, with his twelve firemen and coal-heavers, 
to attack it with pick and shovel, and to pronounce upon 
its quality. 

He had orders to continue digging if he found it 
adapted to our furnaces, while the first lieutenant himself 
was ordered to have the bags and boats in readiness to 
bring it on board as it was dug out by the shore-party. 
IsTow, this was going to work without delay ; but, as the 
first day would be likely to pass before they could get out 
enough to make it worth while to commence the trans- 
portation, several of us took advantage of the unexpected 
holiday to shoulder our guns and take a boat for the coal- 
stratum, which we proposed examining first and then 
starting back into the country for a bear-hunt as soon 
as our curiosity should be satisfied. 

The wind was blowing quite fresh from seaward as we 
started; a heavy swell was also setting in through the 
channel which we had to cross, and the tide was falling 
so rapidly that we feared grounding inside of the hook 
before w^e should be able to reach the landing. It was 
quite cold, too, the air being down as low as 45° Fahr., 
and the water at about 48° ; so that it would have been 
any thing but comfortable to have grounded near the 
middle of the extensive mud-flat and found ourselves 
under the necessity of wading on shor.e, or remaining in 
the boat with the retreating water breaking over us and 



HOW TO CUEE THE CHILLS. 337 

the freshening breeze blowing it through, our clothes for 
several hours, and, in the words of Hartman, chilling us 
fearfully, l^evertheless, this unpleasant alternative proved, 
to be in store for us ; and we only escaped it through the 
generosity of the boat's crew, who insisted upon jumping 
out as soon as we struck, thus lightening the boat greatly, 
and enabling them to wade her up to the nearest point of 
the beach. When we had thus reached the dry land, how- 
ever, they paid severely for their kindness, in the shape 
of several severe cases of chills, which the doctor at once 
took in hand with professional activity and "knocked 
spots out of" at once. Being debarred access to his medi- 
cine-chest by a mile or more of salt water, he hauled a 
bottle of brandy out of his pocket, and, having divided it 
into six doses, told them to " drink that," after which they 
expressed themselves considerably "warmed up;" and, 
when we reached the blazing coal-fire which Lawton had 
already got under way, they might be said to have been 
in better condition than when we started. 

Upon looking around us we noticed three or four coal- 
strata, instead of one only, and found, also, that they 
were quite extensive. They were from eighteen inches 
to three feet in width, ran at an inclination of about forty- 
five degrees with the surface of the sea, in a northwest 
and southeast direction, (which was about parallel with 
the trend of the valleys,) and passed entirely through the 
promontory. This latter was from three to four hundred 
feet in height, Avas possessed of very steep and precipitous 
sides, and was reared upon several most singular forma- 
tions. There was feldspar, argillaceous iron-ore, and a 

kind of secondary sandstone, — a petrifaction evidently, 

22 



338 INTERESTING PETRIFACTIONS. 

for it existed in every stage of hardness. It was to be 
found all along the beach in the shape of perfectly-round 
balls of about the size of an orange, as well as in huge, 
shapeless fragments of rock. Some of these balls were 
so soft as to flatten easily under the foot, like potters' clay, 
while others were as hard as granite. These latter, if 
thrown forcibly against a large rock, would rebound with 
the elasticity of a billiard-ball, or shatter into a dozen 
fragments ; and in the latter case they were invariably 
found to contain petrified clams, oysters, various other 
marine shells, and the impressions of a great number of 
ferns and other plants, many of which seemed no longer 
to grow on the hill-sides : at least I could not find any. 

As for the shells of the. clams and oysters, they were, 
generally speaking, perfect : they seemed to have become 
filled Math earth, and then to have been gradually in- 
crusted with it until they were perfectly round. In those 
which flattened under the foot we could seldom find 
shells, the half-decayed leaves and stems of plants being 
found to form most of their centres, around which, snow- 
ball-like, the outer coatings seemed to collect as they rolled; 
but how it was that they were rolled, unless by the ebbing 
and flowing tide, we could never imagine. It was sin- 
gular to break open some of these hard, cannon-like balls 
and find oysters and clams inside of them, while there 
was not at the time to be found living specimens within 
miles of the spot. In fact, we never met with oysters 
along the whole coast. But the thing which surprised 
us most was the existence, in spots, of a greasy kind of 
clay, the like of which I had never before read of or seen. 
Walking along the beach, one would put his foot on what 



A NEW-FASHIONED BOOTJACK. 339 

was apparently the backbone of a bed of dark-gray gra- 
nite or sandstone, when, presto ! instead of feeling a solid 
rock under his foot, he would find himself boot-top 
under; and, upon being assisted to haul his leg out, he 
would either leave his boot behind, or drag it out be- 
smeared with a greasy paste, just for all the world as if 
he had stepped into a tub of soft soap. It acted the part 
of a bootjack for us more than once, and with admirable 
success. 

In some places this singular substance ran from the 
mountain's side just like so much fat, — not in a stream, 
for its consistency was too great to admit of flowing; 
but we often found basins of it that had apparently 
soaked through the earth, and in these cases it was so thin 
as to admit readily of being stirred with a stick. In 
other places it was found in a more dense state; and 
in this latter stage it often proved a great drawback to 
us in our mining-operations, for, as it generally existed 
in layers over and between the strata of coal, we had 
to dig it away with shovels before we could get at this 
latter. It was so sticky that it often refused to leave 
the shovel, and the men complained greatly of its 
straining their arms. One man who attempted to heave 
a shovelful of it down the hill-side, while his footing 
was none of the firmest, had it stick to such an extent 
as to carry him down, shovel and all, upon the boggy 
pile, where he stuck horizontally upon all fours until 
some of his fellow-shovellers hauled him out. And 
there were two others who resorted to a "clinch" as 
the readiest mode of reconciling a difference of opinion, 
when the weaker party, falling upon his back with the 



340 NOT /THE BEST WAY TO SETTLE A DISPUTE. 

clay under Mm and Ms antagonist on top, was left in 
that position by Ms now-satisfied foe without the most 
remote prospect of ever getting up through Ms own 
unaided exertions. He might just as well have been 
tied down, as was the great Gulliver, for even his hair 
stuck so fast that he could not lift up his head: all 
that he could do was to roll his eyes about and work 
Ms arms, which only served to "fit him" to greater 
advantage. Upon being assisted to his feet, he was 
heard to express himself against "clinchin"' — as the 
best mode of settling a dispute — "upon sich ground 
as this." 

Before leaving, I rolled up a ball of the singular sub- 
stance, intending to preserve it for future analyzation, 
but, unfortunately, lost it before an opportunity presented 
itself This ball, which was at first of about the consist- 
ency of working-putty, soon became as hard as soap- 
stone and susceptible of receiving quite a polish. It 
was of the colour of a yellowish-white clay, and without 
odour. 

The general formation of the promontory was of sand- 
stone of several different varieties. Along the beach, 
and projecting from the side of the cliffs, it was to be 
seen in the shape of huge boulders or pointed fragments, 
that had become blackened through the combined action 
of time and the elements and rendered as hard as granite ; 
while in the beds of the ravines and gullies it was found 
in a secondary state, so soft that the water in running 
over it loosened the minute particles, and, carrying them 
along in suspension, rendered itself totally unfit for 
either bathing or drinking purposes. Catch a cupful 



DISAPPOINTED IN A SHOWER-BATH. 341 

of it as it fell clear and sparkling in the shape of a 
picturesque-looking cascade, and, before it was suf- 
ficiently settled to be drunk, there would have col- 
lected a teaspoonful of a greasy, paste-like sediment 
in the bottom ; and, when we once went to take a 
refreshing shower-bath, as we flattered ourselves, under 
said picturesque cascade, it filled our eyes, ears, and 
hair to such an extent that we were glad to take a dip 
in the less-promising surf that was rolling at our feet. 

The soil which existed on this sandstone as a base 
was of a loose sandy nature, and was sprinkled about 
quite liberally with patches of the "bootjack clay," which 
rendered running, leaping, and jumping along the 
mountain-side any thing but comfortable. We soon 
learned, however, to detect the presence of "a bog," 
as they shortly came to be called, and to guide our 
steps accordingl}'. These patches on the hillsides almost 
invariably supported a hoarfrost-like growth, which, 
seeing nowhere else, we had but to walk around and 
keep on firm ground. Having no such warning along 
the beach, however, we did not fare so well. There it 
not only came up in the shape of a ridge of rock, as I 
have already observed, but it also existed in quick- 
sand-like formations which there was no avoiding. 
Then, if you did not recover yourself with active 
readiness, you would soon be "boot-top under." I 
myself once "got my foot into it" so deep that, in 
bracing myself on the other to haul out by, the edge 
of the hard sand that supported me caved in and left 
me knee-deep, with a very small prospect of getting out 
without foreign help. I could lift either foot half-way 



342 I AND MY BOOT PART COMPANY. 

out easily enough; but tlie angle made by the lower 
and upper parts of my legs (the knee being the vertex) 
would then become so small as to deprive me of the 
power of lifting it higher, and, when I attempted to 
bear my weight on it to haul up the other, I only 
worked down deeper. 

I was glad enough when a couple of strong arms lifted 
me bodily out, minus one boot ; and, after thanking my 
stalwart friend, lay cautiously down upon the hard part 
of the beach, and shoved my arm down after the miss- 
ing article, which, singular to say, I drew out perfectly 
empty. It had collapsed as soon as my foot left it ; and 
all that I had to do was to pull it quietly on and walk 
more carefully in future. 

As soon as I had stamped my foot well down into the 
softened leather, and scraped off a pound or more of the 
adhering patent bootjack-mixture, I took a long stick 
and shoved it down the half-filled hole from which I had 
rescued my boot, to see how far I might have sunk had 
not a "friend in need" been at hand. It had gone down 
only about two feet when I felt a rock or some other 
hard substance; and we subsequently found that these 
"patches" seldom extended to a greater depth, so that, 
though considerably inconvenient, they were not at all 
dangerous. 



CHAPTER XVni. 

WE lEAVE THE COAL-MINE FOR A HUNT, AND ENCOUNTER ANOTHER PARTY 

; SIMttARLT ENGAGED WH RETURN WITH THEM TO THE VILLAGE AND ARE 

HOSPITABLY ENTERTAINED — THE HEADMAN NOT AN ADVOCATE OF THE 
MAINE LIQUOR-LAW — HOW WE "COALED SHIP," AND HOW WE RAN A RACE 
WITH A FLOOD-TIDE. 

The last part of the previous chapter was chiefly devoted 
to the different formations about the coal-strata in general, 
and the "patent bootjack-mixture" in particular; and 
novp" I vrill leave Lawton and his dozen firemen digging 
away at its gum-like strength, and carry the reader along 
with the doctor and myself as we started to follow the 
swampy bank of the small river that emptied into the 
bottom of the hook at high-water, and which at low tide 
ran a mile or more over the flats of said hook, until it 
finally reached the sea at the imaginary line previously 
spoken of. 

This hook, as I have already said, formed an inner 
harbour at high-water and an extensive mud-flat when 
the tide was down ; and, as the river widened its channel 
considerably while running over it, thus decreasing its 
depth in proportion, there was no difficulty in crossing 
in a straight line from the coal-mine to the opposite vil- 
lage at low tides. In the present case, however, we de- 
termined to follow the river up into the mountains, in 
the hope of crossing the track of some bear or other 

343 



344 WE ARRIVE AT A CONCLUSION. 

game, and finally visiting the village on our return. 
So we left this latter on our right and the coal-mine in 
our rear, and trudged along through the soft and spongy 
turf and over the rugged tails of ridges that ran down 
and terminated at the river, until we had pretty well tired 
ourselves out, and arrived, not at the mountains, but at 
the conclusion that we had walked along the hoggy bank 
quite far enough, and that if we expected to visit the 
village and regain the ship before night it was full time 
for us to be turning back and "stirring our stumps." 
So we took advantage of the first fordable part of the 
river to wade across, and soon found ourselves climbing 
the hills on the opposite side. 

From the top of these hills we now looked toward the 
village over a treeless expanse of undulating land, whose 
broken surface was covered with a dense but dry turf, in 
which the foot sank over the ankle at every step, and 
whose occasional ravines were hidden by groves of dwarf 
pines, under which a long and wiry grass grew, and 
twisted, and turned, and retwisted itself, in such a man- 
ner as to render it any thing but an easy matter to work 
our way down, over, and up to the opposite heights. Still, 
even that was better than the muddy, spongy walking 
along the river's bank; and so we continued on over the 
yielding turf and through the tangled grass until we had 
crossed the last ravine and ascended to the extensive 
prairie-like plain upon the sea-edge of which the mound- 
like houses of the village were located. 

"We had not walked many hundred yards over this 
beautiful carpeting of grass before our attention was 
attracted by a shout upon our left, and, as we turned in 



WE ENCOUNTER NATIVES. 345 

that direction, we beheld a party of five persons, among 
whom we recognised Hartman and another of our mess- 
mates, while the remainder were buckskin-clad natives, 
who apparently had been pressed into their service as 
guides. These latter we found to consist of a father and 
two sons, the former of whom carried a smooth-bore 
flint-rifle, to which was attached a permanent rest in the 
shape of a wooden prong, pivoted at its vertex to the 
stock near the muzzle, while in his belt was stuck a 
short knife, and down his right leg, outside, in a socket 
worked in his leggings, a very long one. His sons were 
rigged out in a similar style, with the exception of 
having no gun; and they gave us to understand that 
when the old gentleman wounded a bear with his gun 
they drew their long knives to assist him in the conflict 
which followed. The short ones they used for cutting 
and eating. 

As they joined us, we regarded them as curiously as 
they did us, for they were the first of their kind we had 
seen, though we had read much of their habits and seen 
many engravings of Kamtchadales in such works as 
Dr. Pritchard's "l^atural History." I was surprised to 
find them entirely diflfering from those engravings ; and 
my surprise lasted until we reached Ayan, when " old 
Frybark" — the Russian officer in command — explained 
it all away. 

The Kamtchadales proper, he said, were mostly con- 
fined to the interior and east coast of the peninsula, while 
the few people found on the west coast (where we were) 
were a mongrel-breed, springing from Russians and the 
Ee-ah-couts Indians, and presenting the ethnologist with 



346 HOW THEY CLOTHE THEMSELVES. 

a most puzzling diversity of feature and general appear- 
ance. 

These particular three whom we now joined — and, in 
fact, all of those whom we subsequently encountered in 
the village — were of ordinary stature, flat-featured, and of 
a sallow, olive complexion; and that is about all I can 
say of them. They were dressed in loose garments of 
reindeer-skins that had been well cured, with the hair 
inside, and the red and polished buckskin turned outside 
to bid defiance to every thing in the shape of briers, and 
almost to old Time himself. It was difficult to imagine 
how such clothes could ever wear out, so preserving a 
polish had they received from the combination of dirt 
and grease with which they seemed to be brought in con- 
stant contact. 

Their trousers and boots — or rather, I should say, moc- 
casins — were made in one, and a smockfrock-like gar- 
ment came down half-way to the knee and was confined 
around the waist by a buckskin belt. This frock was 
provided with a hood, which usually hung down the back, 
but which could be hauled over both head and face at the 
pleasure of the wearer. When thus rigged out they were 
cold-proof, and in fact water-proof also, as long as they did 
not wade where it was more than waist-deep. Some of 
their clothes were sewed with waxed thread, obtained 
probably years back from wandering whalers, while 
others were more perceptibly, but with equal neatness 
and far greater strength, stitched together with threads 
drawn from the sinews of the reindeer or mountain-elk. 

Although our examination of Hartman's companions 
was so very close, it was not a whit more so than theirs. 



EXTKAVAGANT DELIGHT OF THE HEADMAN. 347 

They mixed with us in perfect confideuce, (though they 
had at first mistaken us for Frenchmen come to bombard 
their town, and now only had our word to the contrary,) 
and examined every thing about us with the greatest 
curiosity. And there I was surprised to see how well the 
French were known, and how totally the English were 
unknown. "Franco no dobre," they would say, — ^French 
no good; but we could not get a word or even a look 
from them when speaking of the English. They drank 
a glass of brandy with undoubt-ed gusto, and then com- 
menced to examine our clothes, boots, weapons, &c. &c. 
What surprised them most, and excited their admiration 
to the highest pitch, was the fineness of the grains of our 
powder, which the father of the party could not cease 
comparing with his own, asking by signs if we had any 
to give away. "We gave him to understand in return that 
we would give him a capful of it if he would shoot us 
a mountain-elk and bring it on board, upon which he 
danced around in frantic delight, partly from the effects 
of brandy and partly from those of joy, I suppose, and, 
when he had in a manner recovered his composure, in- 
formed us that as soon as he could get a horse in from 
the country he would mount him and ride away, after 
which we might soon expect to see him returning with a 
buck on said horse's shoulders. His manner of explain- 
ing to us that he was talking about a horse was simple in 
the extreme. He only straddled the forefinger of his left 
hand with the fore and middle finger of his right, neighed 
very horse-like, then clucked with his mouth, and, finally, 
belaboured an imaginary animal most unmercifdlly with 
his hide-covered heels. 



348 WE REACH THE VILLAGE. 

Affcei' all this he went on to inform us that he should 
be perfectly contented when he should become possessed 
of so much powder ; that it would certainly last him to 
his grave, and that when it was gone he would be willing 
to die. He never fired more than once at a deer, he said ; 
and, throwing himself on the ground flat on his face, he 
planted his forked rest firmly, showed us how he called 
the deer toward him, how he took aim, motioned us to 
imagine him covered with bushes so that he could not be 
seen, and, having satisfied us fully on all these points, 
recovered his feet with the agility of a monkey, and fol- 
lowed us as we walked toward the village. 

As we approached this latter, a number of shaggy dogs 
barked and howled at us as they retreated behind the 
piles of earth which we had justly taken to be the houses ; 
and we were expecting to see crowds of women and chil- 
dren alarmed by said barking and coming out to see 
"what the row was," when our friend of the smooth-bore 
flint-rifle suddenly opened a door and motioned us to 
enter. , It was a long, dark, and narrow archway, down 
which we peered as the door was opened ; and a greasy 
smell of whale-blubber, half-cured fish, &c. that broke 
upon our noses, combined with the dim light of a murky 
fire in a distant apartment at its end, took away every 
thing that might have been pleasant in the prospect of 
resting our wearied limbs in a warm atmosphere. And, 
as we "hang back" at that door and look in one another's 
faces, as much as to ask. Shall we brave that odour? 
let me give the reader an idea of the outer appearance of 
those singular habitations. 

They resembled the half of a long-necked gourd, — one 



DESCRIPTION OF THEIR HOUSES. 349 

that has been split in half to make two drinking-cups 
of, and having a dozen or more pins stuck in the out- 
side of the bottom of the cup, which, in this case, cor- 
responds to the roof of the house. Altogether, they 
were most outlandish-looking houses outside ; but, when 
you once entered them, the. philosophy of their peculiar 
construction became beautifully apparent. The long, 
dark, and narrow archway down which we looked 
proved to be a passage of some four feet in width by 
forty or fifty in length, and was flanked on either side 
by angular spaces resembling the wings of a garret, 
which were admirably adapted for the storage of winter 
provender in the shape of dried seal and deer-meat, 
smoked salmon, whale-blubber, &c. &c., besides adding 
largely to the air-room — if I may be allowed the ex- 
pression — of the house in general; and the "pins" proved 
to be poles connected with the cavity which answered 
the purpose of a chimney. 

As we passed through this lengthy and gloomy passage- 
way, the "greasy odour" before alluded to grew stronger 
and stronger ; and I for one had made up my mind, as 
we emerged from it into the spacious and bowl-like 
apartment, that my stay was to be of exceeding limited 
duration. Imagine my pleasant surprise, therefore, 
when I found that the air of this larger apartment was, 
comparatively speaking, quite pure. I drew a long 
breath of it as I became aware of the fact, and, ad- 
vancing toward the fire, seated myself on a pile of deer- 
skins and began to look around me. 

The first thing that I saw was a large and circular 
apartment, possessing a diameter of probably forty feet, 



350 THE headman's family. 

a heiglit of some fifteen in the centre, and which, de- 
creased dome-like as it neared the ground-part of the 
sides. In the centre of the curved ceiling there was 
quite a large aperture, and directly underneath this 
w^ere piled a number of hearth-stones, over and about 
which a lately-built fire was smoking itself into a state 
of fitful "blaziness" in honour of our discovered ap- 
proach and subsequent arrival. 

Two boys, of about the ages of eight and ten, were 
seated upon their haunches near it, watching its growing 
power, and adding dry fragments of fuel as occasion 
called for. Like those who accompanied us, they were 
dressed in tanned (?) skins, with the hair inside, and, 
though of very small stature, were still rigged in every 
respect like their more elderly companions : they even 
had the two knives stuck in sockets worked in their 
trousers below the knee. 

We soon found that we were in the house of the man 
of the smooth-bore rifle, and that these little fellows 
were his youngest children, while the other two whom 
we had first met were his elder ones, — the four con- 
stituting the male portion of his family. "Where were 
the fair sex, — those fireside-ornaments? We looked 
around and asked in vain, — the only satisfaction we 
obtained being a wave of the headman's hand toward 
the mountains; and this we took to infer that they 
had been sent back into the country for safe-keeping. 

As the fire now blazed up brightly and lit up the 
gloomy recesses of the extensive apartment with its 
uncertain light, we made the discovery that there were . 
two rooms in one; that is, the fire was built in the 



THE INSIDE OF THE HEADMAN'S HOUSE. 351 

centre of a circle of some twenty feet diameter, wliich 
put me very much, in mind of the ring of a circus, the 
circumference of said circle being marked by upright 
posts that reached to and supported the ceiling. These 
posts were planted about four feet apart, and between 
them and the earthen sides of the house there was a 
raised platform of -(vhale-ribs, rough planks, flat pieces 
of drift-wood, &c., over which were spread any number 
of bear- and deer-skins, upon which we were more than 
once invited to recline; but, as there were strong in- 
dications of the existence of vermin within their hairy 
depths, we confined ourselves to seats on the edge of 
the platform, which latter, being about a foot high, 
made a very comfortable seat as long as we kept our 
feet upon the earthen flooring of "the ring." 

The posts to which were nailed the inner ends of the 
scantling upon which the platform was laid were rough 
logs from the dwarfed arctic pine, with the bark peeled 
ofi" and the knots smoothed away with a knife ; but they 
had been smoked for so long a time, and taken hold of 
by so many greasy hands, and rubbed against by so 
many greasy clothes, that they had become as black 
and polished as so many pieces of ebony. 

After we had been seated a few minutes in this 
singular and uninviting habitation, the smoke began 
to get so thick as to cause us to rub our eyes and finally 
to weep outright; which the headman perceiving, he 
spoke a few words to one of his sons, who went and 
opened the door at the outer end of the long passage, 
when in less than a minute our enemy vanished through 
the aperture. The door was again closed, the passing 



352 THE REMNANT OF THE POPULATION. 

current of air died a natural death, and the fire again 
began to warm the chilled atmosphere and to fill the 
room once more with smoke. They had to resort to the 
process of opening the door about every fifteen minutes 
after that; and upon one occasion they not only ad- 
mitted a relieving current of air, but also the remnant 
of the then population of the village, consisting of two 
men and one small boy, who shook hands with us most 
affectionately, and pronounced the word " brandy" several 
times with remarkable aptitude, while with their hands 
and mouths they went through the process of drinking 
with equal success. There was no mistaking their 
meaning, and so the doctor produced a quart-bottle 
of French punch and gave them a pretty stiff horn all 
round. This they enjoyed excessively, even the three 
small boys crowding around to share in the unusual 
treat. 

The docter, however, did not relish the idea of giving 
strong drink to such small men, and told their father as 
much by signs ; but the latter only laughed, and motioned 
him to let him have the bottle and cup a moment, when 
he poured out about a gill for each, and slapped them 
on the back as they coughed over its unexpected strength. 
Then he poured out all that was left, drank it down like 
water, and pitched the empty bottle to one of his still- 
choking offspring, who stowed it away in a mysterious 
corner for future use. It was subsequently a source 
of great surprise to see how much those people could 
drink and still not appear the worse for it. This head- 
man, in particular, I once saw drink a quart-bottle of 
gin in less than half an hour, and the only difference 



THEY GET READY FOR DINNER. 353 

it made in him was that lie became more rough iu his 
manner toward those under him and slightly unsteady 
in his gait. I tried to imagine how it was that they 
could drink so much without being made intoxicated, 
and could only attribute it to the greasy nature of their 
food and to the excessive cold of their winters, which 
call for a vast amount of animal heat. 

Soon after the entrance of the "remnant of the popu- 
lation," and immediately following the destruction of the 
bottle of punch, the headman made signs that he was 
about to cook us some dinner; and, as we were both 
hungry and curious to see their mode of cooking, we ex- 
pressed ourselves highly delighted at his hospitality. I 
don't suppose, however, that any of us thought for a mo- 
ment of eating any thing he might get up, though we tvcre 
quite hungry ; for every thing around us looked so greasy 
and dirty that it w^as hard to imagine any thing about the 
premises capable of being cleaned. 

There was a fine fire under way by this time ; and the 
first thing they did was to plant a tripod-like structure 
over it, from the vertex of which hung a long iron pot- 
hopk, from which, in turn, was evidently to be suspended 
some as yet unseen vessel. One of the small boys next 
rummaged this unseen vessel out of the same mysterious 
corner into which the empty bottle had disappeared, 
when, to our surprise, it proved to be a very civilized- 
looking iron pot, which the young explorer at once 
commenced to clean with great energy. This cleaning 
he accomplished through the instrumentality of quantities 
of fresh water, several handfuls of sand, and three or four 
bunches of clean, dry grass ; and when he gave it its last 



354 WE CONCLUDE TO EAT. 

rinsing out the pot was evidently clean : there was no fault 
to be found with it. I began to think that some of us 
might partake of their cooking, after all. 

We asked them where they had got their pot from, and 
were told that a whale-ship had presented it to them 
many years back in exchange for a mountain-elk that 
they had carried on board, and that they would like to 
carry another mountain-elk on board of a ship and bring 
another pot on shore. So we entered into such an agree- 
-ment, to our mutual joy. 

Their next proceeding was to haul several halves of 
fine-looking salmon out of a greasy-looking sealskin bag, 
which they cut into pieces as long as one's hand, on a 
clean piece of board, washed well in a pail of water, 
packed into the pot, added a pint or so of water, sprinkled 
a little salt over all, (they collect salt from crevices in the 
rocks along the sea-shore at low-water and after a hot 
sun has shone for some hours,) put on the broken lid, 
and finally hung it on the pot-hook, where it soon began 
to simmer away in fine style and give forth an odour 
that was any thing but unpleasant. The fact of the fish 
having been taken from a greasy-looking sealskin bag 
was the only drawback to our appetite; and that was 
speedily overcome, for we had walked Over many heavy 
miles, and it was long past our usual dinner-hour. 

When the. headman, therefore, took half of the lid off" 
and picked out a piece for each one, which he put upon 
fragments of the "New York Herald" that one of us had 
carried along, we all held out our hands as he passed 
around, and fell to work, — cautiously at first, but, finally, 
with a most hearty will. The natives, too, attacking 



THE HEADMAN AGAIN GETS EXCITED. 355 

what was left in the pot with their knives, fingers, and 
teeth, the "several halves of fine-looking smoked sal- 
mon" were soon among "the things that were;" and, 
another bottle of punch being opened and pipes lit, we 
began to enjoy ourselves, while thus helping the expiring 
fire to get up the usual amount of smoke. 

We all had our own pipes, fortunately, we having 
carried some that we had got in Japan, and our hosts 
having theirs, which had been obtained through the 
Russians. Their tobacco, however, was running alarm- 
ingly short, it seems; and I never saw men indulge in 
more extravagant demonstrations of joy than they did 
when Hartman pulled out a pound-plug and told them 
that he would not only give them an iron pot, but that 
he would fill it with similar pieces, in return for one of 
their long-talked-of mountain-elks. 

The headman, immediately after regaining a state of 
comparative composure, reached for his gun, took aim at 
an imaginary elk, and clucked his tongue, as much as to 
say, " Wait until I get a chance : won't I fetch one down ?" 
after which he replaced it carefully and intimated his 
readiness for another drink. In this way we rested our- 
selves and smoked away for an hour or more; when, 
after bartering a few pieces of tobacco and the second 
empty bottle for several of the cleanest-looking skins, we 
passed again through the long passage-way into the open 
air, and, accompanied by our hosts, crossed the mud-flat 
in advance of the rising tide, and reached our friends at 
the coal-mine just as they were about to return on board 
for the night. "We therefore rewarmed ourselves at their 
blazing fire, reshouldered our guns, and skins, and ac- 



356 HAKD SEKVICE FOR BOATS. 

compaiiied them along the beach to meet a boat that wa3 
coming up with the tide to take us on board. 

We soon reached her, when our native friends bade us 
farewell, with the promise to visit us on board and to 
bring with them one of their famous elk, the quality of 
whose meat we were anxious to compare with our usual 
diet of "salt junk" and sour bread. It is useless, I sup- 
pose, to repeat "the old story:" — how they got their iron 
pot stuck full of plugs of tobacco, how we continued to 
luxuriate upon salt junk and sour bread, and how the elk 
continued his leaps from crag to crag to the imminent 
terror of imaginary beholders. 

The day following this ramble, Lawton reported a suffi- 
cient quantity of coal as being ready for embarkation, 
and "all hands" and boats were consequently devoted to 
that work. "We soon found it to be any thing but a 
pleasant job, however; for, having to carry the boats to 
the very foot of the coal-stratum in order to fill them, and 
then to pull back over the mud-ilat to deep water, the 
ebb-tide often got the start of us, and left us sprinkled 
about over said flat, sometimes with full boats, sometimes 
with empty ones, and always with the pleasant alternative 
of remaining in the boats to be half frozen, or of walk- 
ing through the cold mud to the distant fire. Moreover, 
there was all this time lost, besides straining the boats if 
they happened to be loaded when thus left "high and 
dry ;" and our boats were valuable in that out-of-the-wa}' 
part of the world, more particularly as every day that 
passed only served to strengthen our minds in the con- 
viction that the " old John" herself was destined to play 
us a trick before we could get her safely into San Fran- 



HOW WE CHANGE DAY INTO NIGHT. 357 

cisco. We were therefore naturally disposed to be tender 
with them, so that we should have something to depend 
upon when our dilapidated old craft should " turn turtle," 
drift upon a lee shore, founder in a sea-way, Qr indulge 
in any similar species of recreation. 

It was soon determined, therefore, that some more sum- 
mary process would have to be resorted to ; for under the 
first arrangement we had to pull so far with our loaded boats 
before reaching the ship, that, by the time their coal could 
be hoisted on board and they sent back, the tide would 
be falling, and they consequently likely to ground on the 
flat before getting half-way to the mine. It was there- 
fore thought best to get the ship herself under way every 
morning at daylight and run into as little as three 
fathoms, hovering off the edge of the mud-flat as long as 
there was water enough for the boats to pass back and 
forth, and then to return to the anchorage under Shag 
Rock until the rising of the next tide should allow them 
to move over it again. 

This apparently-rational course had no sooner been 
determined upon than it became evident that we would 
have to consult the state of the tides in the selection of 
our working-hours ; and so, as it was mostly low-water 
during the days, and the reverse at night, we capsized 
our habits of life and began to sleep during the former 
and to eat and work during the latter. Fortunately, dark- 
ness was not of long duration, as the twilight lingered 
/Until near eleven o'clock and the early dawn began to 
show itself about three hours later. It was, nevertheless, 
very trying to both oflSlcers and men ; and, when at the end 
of five days the coal-bunkers were proclaimed full and 



358 WE TRY TO BRIBE THE "ENTIRE POPULATION." 

the boats liad been hoisted in, the captain looked around 
upon his exhausted ship's company, and caused the word 
to be passed that the next twenty-four hours would be 
devoted to a resting-spell, instead of to the continuation 
of the survey, as we had all feared. 

As I looked around the decks and saw the weather- 
beaten frame of the old forecastleman and the half-de- 
veloped form of the youthful "ship's boy" stretched side 
by side in the heavy sleep of protracted toil, I could not 
but rejoice over the order which had granted such neces- 
sary repose. 

We had found little or no diflS.culty in getting out the 
coal ready for shipment; but our boats were so small, 
and the tides so uncertain, that we had been induced to 
press into service the headman of the village, its " entire 
population," and a huge skin boat of theirs, which, with 
proper management, might have been made to carry at a 
single load as much as all of our boats put together ; but, 
after the first trip, the old fellow imagined that the coal 
would soon cut through her bottom, and consequently 
refused to lend her any more. We tried to bribe him by 
the offer of tobacco by the pound, and even did violence 
to our ideas of right and wrong by adding a bottle of 
brandy ; but he made signs that their boat and harpoons 
were their only means of killing seal, — the meat of which 
is their chief article of food, — and we, of course, could 
not think of forcing him to hire her against his will. We 
had therefore to fall back upon our own boats, in con- 
sequence of which the work progressed slowly and 
laboriously. 



A RARE OLD BOAT. 359 

This boat, which the headman was so fearful of 
injuring, is well worthy of a passing notice. 

In the first place, she was built entirely of the skins of 
wild animals, and long, withe-like poles, — the former 
being sewed together with water-proof stitches, while 
the latter were joined to each other, and twisted, and 
bent, and retwisted, and doubled back, and finally tied 
into something that looked very much like the frame of 
an ordinary boat that is ready for planking. In sewing 
these skins together they used sharpened pieces of bone 
for needles, and fibres of the sinews of wild animals 
for thread ; and the regularity of the stitches thus made 
was really astonishing. "When they had thus connected 
together some forty or fifty skins in one immense sheet, 
they encased the frame in it, and allowed it to dry ; and, 
in drying, it hardened like raw hide ; after which, they 
gave us to understand that it never became loose or soft 
any more as long as they took proper care of it. Of 
course, that part forming the bottom of the boat became 
soft after she had been in the water any length of time ; 
but that did not matter, as they stepped upon the withes 
when moving about in her. 

This particular boat was from forty to fifty feet in 
length, some seven or eight in breadth, drew only about 
an inch of water when no one was in her, and carried 
her gunwales some three or four feet out of the water. 
Singular to say, she did not seem at all "top-heavy." A 
dozen or more two-inch poles that were lashed from gun- 
wale to gunwale were the only things in the shape of 
seats that she offered; and on these sat the oarsmen, 
having under them a thick piece of bear-skin to guard 



360 HARTMAN AND MYSELF FEEL INSECURE. 

against the otherwise almost certain caudal irritation. 
The headman himself found a similarly-dangerous seat 
on either quarter while guiding her course with a long 
and trailing oar. She floated on the water with the 
lightness of a distended bladder, and had a most singular 
way of twisting herself about, bending her long back 
over the short seas, seeming to be giving- away under 
one's foot, &c. &c., and altogether imparting a feeling of 
unpleasant insecurity. 

Upon one occasion, Hartman and myself were anxious 
to go on shore, while there was but one of the ship's 
boats alongside, and the headman, noticing our dis- 
appointment, — for we could not leave the ship without 
any boat for fear of accident, (a man falling overboard, or 
something of that sort,) — made signs to the efiect that if 
we would get into his with a bottle of brandy in our 
pocket he would give us a passage : so we provided our- 
selves accordingly and stepped over the side. There was 
no wind blowing at the time, but there was still the same 
old swell setting in through the channel, and, as we rode 
lightly over them, she felt to us, who w^ere accustomed to 
our ungiving boats, as if she would break her back at 
every jump. She would bend as much as fifteen or 
twenty degrees; and, if you happened to step anywhere 
save on one of the withe-like timbers, the softened skin 
would sink under the foot and cause you to catch for the 
gunwale under the suddenness of the impression that 
you had found a hole and -fv^ere about to try the depth of 
the water. Then, her motion was so supple and snake- 
like that one could not for some time rid himself of the 
idea that " something was wrong," and that it behooved 



• THE HEADMAN LOOKS OUT FOR "NO. 1." 361 

Mm to keep a sharp look-out. Altogether, she was a 
most singular specimen of naval architecture, — almost as 
singular as the " old John" herself. 

At length we found ourselves safely on shore, with the 
headman in a fine flow of spirits, and the bottle half 
empty. He had attacked it at almost every stroke of the 
oars, refusing to give his companions even a single taste : 
he was evidently a very selfish old fellow, and one who 
knew how to keep those under him at a distance. So 
much for the headman and his village. And now I will 
say a few words about this coal, relate an adventure 
which several of us met with quite unexpectedly, and 
then leave Kamtschatka for the eastern coast of Siberia, 
the western boundary of the Okotsk Sea. 

The importance of this combustible to the world at 
large has been so fully demonstrated within the last few 
years, that its discovery in unknown localities must ever 
be a source of interest to nine people out of ten. I shall 
stop in my narrative for a moment, therefore, to mention 
a few facts in regard to this which we discovered along 
the wilds of Kamtschatka. Most of that which came 
under our inspection was what is understood by " surface- 
coal ;" but the last that we took on board came from a 
very fair depth, and looked as bright, and hard, and glit- 
tering, as the best anthracite. It was semi-bituminou«, 
of several degrees of excellence, and burned with a bright 
blue flame, emitting little or no smell of sulphur, giving 
very little smoke for bituminous coal, and leaving few 
cinders and ashes. Much of it, upon being broken open, 
was found to contain a bright substance resembling 
amber, pieces of which, as large as a large buckshot, 



862 THE GOVERNMENT EXPECTS TOO MUCH. 

often fell out when it was thus fractured : as a general 
thing, however, it prevailed in the shape of veins of 
greater or less extent. 

This bright substance we took to be pyrites ; but 
whether the sulphuret of iron, copper, cobalt, or nickel, 
I was not sufficiently" versed in mineralogy to determine. 
And here I must stop to ask the following question : — 
" Would it not have been worth the while of the Govern- 
ment to have offered a liberal salary — say three or four 
thousand dollars a year — to men of fair proficiency in the 
various branches, and thus obtained, as our ' right-hand 
men,' persons who would have been prepared at the time 
to take advantage of, and to explain and note for future 
investigation, the various freaks of nature which daily 
crossed our path in those unfrequented parts of the 
world?" "We often felt the want of an able mineralo- 
gist in particular ; but it seems that the Government ex- 
pected its officers — men whose whole lives have been 
spent upon the sea — to possess a sufficient " smattering" 
of all sciences to answer the purpose. But to return to 
the coal. We were sorry to meet with this sulphuret, as 
that in which it is found is more or less liable to spon- 
taneous combustion, and we had no idea of arraying 
another of the elements against the slim chance which 
the "old John" held out of ever landing us safely in 
San Francisco. We already had enough fire in the fur- 
naces, without bringing any more on board in a latent 
state. 

I have said that this coal burned with a bright blue 
flame, that it gave out little or no sulphur, made very 
little smoke, and left few ashes ; and such was actually 



NATURE OF THE COAL. 363 

the case when it was piled on the blazing fire that kept 
us warm while digging it out ; but, as soon as it was tried 
in our small-fiue furnaces, its nature seemed to undergo 
an entire change. Instead of burning brightly, it smoked, 
and smothered, and ran into clinker, and gave forth sul- 
phur in a most provoking and choking manner, the con- 
sequence of which was that it got up steam very slowly, 
kept it up very poorly, choked the flues with soot so as 
to force us to "haul fires" about every six hours to clear 
them, and accomplished generally a vast deal that was 
provoking to our tempers, injurious to the health of the 
firemen, and detrimental to the work of the Expedition. 

As far as our experience extended, therefore, we came 
to the conclusion that it would never be adapted to burn- 
ing in small-flue boilers, that it might answer well in fur- 
naces intended for burning soft coal, and that it un- 
doubtedly did burn well in the open air as an ordinary 
fire and in a blacksmith's forge. And now for the ad- 
venture which several of us encountered so unexpectedly. 

"We had been on shore, hunting all day, and the officer 
of the deck had sent a boat for us toward evening with 
orders to await our return and bring us on board. The 
firemen and boat's crews, having worked at the coal as 
long as the tide would permit, had returned on board 
shortly after noon for the purpose of getting a few hours' 
rest previous to the arrival of the next tide. I^ow, the 
coxswain of our boat, instead of keeping her at the end 
of the promontory, where there was always water enough 
to float her, had pulled in over the mud-flat and hauled 
her up on the beach about half-way between that point 
and the coal-mine, where he left her, and, with the rest 



364 THE DOCTOR GETS EXCITED. 

of the crew, walked a mile or more along the boggy- 
beach to the expiring fire, which had been left by the 
firemen when they returned on board. There they piled 
on a fresh^supply of coal, and, seating themselves around 
it, began smoking their pipes, spinning yarns, and 
making themselves as generally comfortable as the cold 
air and their wet feet would allow them to. And this 
was the state of afiairs when our party arrived and 
asked, — 

"Well, boys, w^here's the boat?" 

"Down along the beaeh, sir!" said the guilty-feeling 
coxswain, as he jumped to his feet and started off toward 
her. ""We hauled her up nicely clear of the water before 
we came up, sir, and buried the anchor in the sand: she 
can't well get away." 

"I suppose not/' I replied. "Why didn't you stop at 
the point, or leave half of the crew in her to keep her 
afloat ? There is a mile or more of mud between her and 
the water by this time." And such really proved to be 
the case ; for, when we had turned a point and got her in 
view, we saw the whole flat before us without a sign of 
water near it, thus finding ourselves under the necessity 
of waiting for the next tide, — three or four long, inactive 
hours to be passed in the cold air, with our wearied limbs 
and empty stomachs as our only companions. The idea 
of dragging the boat over a half-mile of mud and rocks 
to the point was of course out of the question. 

"A stupid piece of work altogether," remarked the 
doctor, in an irritated voice : "it is singular how many 
jackasses there are in this world!" 

At this stage of the proceedings the coxswain looked 



WE IMAGINE OURSELVES COMFORTABLE. 365 

more guilty than ever, and, to hide his confusion, sud- 
denly discovered an imaginary coal-vein in the precipit- 
ous side of the mountain on our right. 

"Never mind finding any more coal," I observed: 
"What I want you to do now is to take two of the crew 
with you and go and stay by the boat until the tide rises, 
then bring her up along the beach as the water deepens. 
The rest of us will go back by the fire until then, and 
meet you as you come up." So we saw him fairly started 
for the boat, and then retraced our steps to the fire, where 
we piled on more coal, gathered closely around it, and 
tried to imagine ourselves in a very comfortable situation. 

By-and-by, as we were thus seated around the blazing 
pile, limbs began to feel less weary under the influence of 
returning warmth, eyes began to grow heavy in about 
the same proportion, heads began to bob spasmodically 
from side to side, and even the breathing of some became 

heavy and regular. ISTot a word had been spoken for 

I can't say how long; for mine was one of those bob- 
bing heads, and time had assumed a' most misty appear- 
ance in its drowsy chambers. 

Suddenly we were aroused by shouts away down the 
beach; and, springing to our feet, we found that night was 
fast closing around us, that the fire had burned quite low, 
and that hurried feet were approaching us from the direc- 
tion of the boat. Excited voices, too, were borne to us 
upon the damp night-air, telling of something wrong 
that had occurred, and serving to awaken us most effec- 
tually. The next moment the breathless coxswain and 
his two companions burst around a near point, running 



366 VEL ! VEL ! VEL ! VOT ISH IT ? VOT ISH IT ? 

at full speed and exclaiming, at the top of their voices, — 
" Come on, gentlemen ! come quick, doctor ! come on, 
Mr. Habersham : the tide's a risin' fast, and we've come 
to let you know!" 

I don't think I ever felt more like knocking a man 
down than at that moment. The doctor, too, was so 
furious that he could only turn pale and get off a few 
disjointed remarks in regard to the comparative size of 
the world and the number of jackasses which it con- 
tained ; while Hartman actually foamed at the mouth in 
his desperate attempts to command enough English to 
convey his emotions. 

"What made you leave the boat behind again?" I 
asked, as they joined us. 

"I wonder how many more jackasses there are among 
us ?" asked the doctor : " it's lucky we're discovering new 
islands: the old world will soon be too small to hold 
you." 

"Vel! vel! vel! Votishit? Votishit? Ye don't see 
te boat yet! Yere is te boat?" foamed Hartman, with 
angry volubility. 

To these rapid questions the coxswain and his friends 
had nothing to answer. They had been left by the boat 
with the previously-mentioned orders, and, instead of 
obeying them, had become frightened at the noise of the 
swelling tide, and wasted precious time by coming almost 
a mile to tell us that it was rising. And now we were 
left with but one alternative : we must either be content 
to remain where we were, — out of reach of the water, — 
and leave the boat to beat about in the surf and probably 
be drifted out to sea ; or we must make a run for it and 



WHAT MUST WE DO ? 367 

tr}^ to reacla her before the tide should rise high enough 
to cover the beach and drown all who should not be able 
to swim back. We had travelled up and down that beach 
both by day and night, and knew well enough that there 
would be no use in trying to climb up those steeps — 
almost perpendicular walls — when the water should wash 
us from our feet: our only hope would then be in the 
untiring arm of the practised swimmer. 

It was something of more than ordinary importance 
upon which we were now called upon to decide ; and I am 
free to acknowledge, as I look back upon that darkening 
night, that we might have acted with far more prudence 
than we did. Still, when the doctor (?) cried out, "Let us 
run for it ! there is yet time," I stopped to think no longer, 
but, dropping my gun on the beach and telling one of 
the men to come on with it as fast as possible, started oft' 
on a full run and was followed by the entire party. 

And such a run as it was ! I never engaged in any 
thing approaching it before ; I hope never to be engaged 
in any thing similar again. "It vos fe&r-ful," as Hart- 
man subsequently expressed it. 

The lingering twilight of the almost endless arctic day 
was slowly giving place to the tardy night. The atmo- 
sphere was just cool enough to keep one from getting 
heated even by running for life, and the unpleasant 
"bootjack-mixture" that was constantly crossing our 
path more than once threw us down at the imminent risk 
of breaking some limb or even a neck. I could hear the 
increasing surge of the flood-tide as it rolled toward us, 
and the decreasing noise of my companions as they hur- 
ried after me : I was evidently distancing them slowly 



368 A GHASTLY ATTEMPT AT A SMILE. 

and nearing the tide-rip rapidly. I was either the worst- 
scared man of the party, or was enabled to outstrip them 
from the fact of having no gun to retard me; and I 
remember this thought flashing through my mind and 
causing me to smile as I looked ahead to the next break- 
fast-table and heard Hartman say, " Oh ! but you should 
see H run : zat vos te best of it all." 

I heard this speech in the future, I say, and smiled; 
but it was doubtless a most ghastly attempt. At any 
rate, it was of but short duration : it fled before the 
increasing roar of the advancing tide, and left me with 
a feeling of startled alarm that fortunately but added 
to my speed. I think now that it was even more than 
a "feeling of startled alarm ;" I think it was much more 
like a very bad scare, — the feeling which possessed me 
as my left foot just then sunk into a streak of "the 
mixture" and caused me to measure my length on what 
fortunately proved to be good hard sand. A few bruises 
were nothing; but it would have been decidedly un- 
pleasant to have found myself sticking up upon "all 
fours," as had been the case with the fireman who 
followed his shovel down the embankment. 

The particular streak over which I now fell was 
fortunately a narrow one, and my momentum was 
sufficient to carry me over it. After picking myself 
up, therefore, I took time to be thankful for this as 
well as to rub my bruised elbows, after which I con- 
tinued the race with any thing but decreased speed. 
There were two high points between our starting-point 
and the boat, that ran down across the beach to about 
half-tide mark, and I had now arrived at the first of 



A TERRIBLE RACE. 369 

these just as the advancing ripple commenced to wash 
it. Doubling it at full speed, and with the water al- 
ready ankle-deep, I shouted to those behind, "Bear a 
hand! bear a hand!" and dashed along the next stretch 
of beach to gain the last point. 

About this time I began to feel a little the worse 
for exercise. My skin was hot and dry, my knees de- 
cidedly weaker than at first, while my throat and chest 
actually burned under the constant friction of rapid and 
heavy breathing. My sight, too, was dimmed by the 
extreme exertion, and a dizzy feeling about the brain 
advised me to slacken my pace or risk a probable fall. 
Still, knowing that every thing now depended on some one 
reaching the boat before she was washed away, and knowing 
also that time was short and that I was the nearest one 
to her, I was urged to push &,head at every risk. I felt 
that, if I could but weather this last point, all would be 
well; for the boat lay just beyond it, and I could easily 
get into her and return for my companions. It was 
this conviction which, combined with my "badly-scared" 
condition, served to keep me up to speed, while I felt 
every moment more and more like fainting. 

At times I thought of giving out in spite of all this ; 
but then I cast my eyes from the inclined, wedge-like 
surface of the foaming waters to the dark outlines of 
the point, which was now only a few hundred yards 
ahead, and, reflecting that I had only to round the 
latter and grasp the boat's gunwale, straightened up 
nervously and threw myself bodily toward it, though 
my knees did tremble, my feet come down rather wildly, 

24 



370 RAPID RISING OF THE TIDE. 

and my sight grow dimmer and more dim under such 
a combination of excitement, fear, and exertion. 

Finally it was reached; and, as I waded heavily around 
it through the knee-deep water that broke against its 
rugged front, I saw the boat rolling from bilge to bilge 
in the rising surf a few yards ahead, — a sight which 
so enlivened me as to cause the expenditure of most 
of my remaining breath in an encouraging shout to 
those who followed. As it turned out, I had not arrived 
a minute too soon : a few moments later and she would 
have been afloat, probably drifting out into the bay, and 
leaving us to swim, climb up the steep and crumbling 
sides of the promontory, or sink. 

I staggered up to her unsteady side, and, grasping 
the gunwale with both hands, strove to keep her 
steady ; but my strength was all gone. I felt at once 
that I was powerless while alone, and so contented my- 
self with crawling over into the stern-sheets and being 
rolled from side to side until the lapse of about twenty 
or thirty seconds brought up the rest of the party, who 
shoved her off into deep water. The oars were now got 
out, and, while thus engaged, we drifted by the point 
around which we had so lately waded. 

"Put over a boat-hook and see how deep the water 
is," said the doctor. 

One of the crew complied, and found four feet where 
but a minute before it had been only knee-deep. "We 
looked at the hopeless hill-side, shuddered, and felt — I 
hope — thankful. 

"It's a great pity there are so many jackasses in 



I RUN ALSO MYSELF. 371 

this world !" repeated tlie doctor, as soon as he had 
sufficiently recovered his breath. 

"Veil, yes! — great pity!" added Hartman, spas- 
modically. "I don't vant to run ever so much again. 
Bierchaum, you run like a great fel-low; you have a 
great scare, I think, Bierchaum. I run also myself." 
And so we pulled on board, the coxswain keeping an 
unusual silence, and all hands feeling most miserable 
and used up. That night we finished coaling, and the 
next day was one of rest. 



CHAPTER XIX. 

WE ENTER THE GULF OF PENJINKS AND REACH OUR HIGHEST NORTHERN 
LATITUDE, AFTER WHICH WE RETURN TO THE OKOTSK, AND CROSS OVER 
TO THE COAST OF SIBERIA — WE NARROWLY ESCAPE SHIPWRECK, AND 
FINALLY ARRIVE AT A PLACE CALLED OLA, WHERE WE ARE REGALED BY 
THE SIGHT OF BULLOCKS AND THE TASTE OF MILK. 

The day after our successful race against time and a 
flood-tide, we once more hove up the anchor and con- 
tinued our survey. We now, steering to the northward 
along the west coast of Kamtschatka, entered the Gulf 
of Penjinks, up which we ran as high as lat. 61° 20' N., 
when, for want of time and favourable weather, we 
turned again to the southward, and retraced our way as 
far as the edge of the Okotsk Sea, when we stretched 
across the mouth of the double gulf for the east coast 
of " Siberia the frozen," and, upon sighting this latter 
during the following day, recommenced the survey. 

We found our newly-discovered coal burning very 
badly. It was with the utmost difficulty that we could 
keep up a moderate amount of steam ; and, upon round- 
ing a jutting point of land shortly after noon, we en- 
countered a current against which we could make no 
headway : in fact, we lost ground for some hours. The 
captain therefore determined to commence the next 
morning and use our good coal as long as it lasted, hoping 
that at any rate it would hold out until we should leave 

372 



HOW LONG WE HAVE TO SLEEP. 373 

that region of rugged rocks and seven or eight knot 
currents. It will be seen how providential this apparently- 
natural decision proved before the lapse of twenty-four 
hours. 

After struggling against the current until sunset, 
(9 P.M.,) it fortunately slackened up, and we were enabled 
to gain shelter in the bight above the point abreast of 
which we had been doing our best all day, after which 
we piped down the hammocks and felt unusually com- 
fortable with the prospect of a quiet night's rest ahead. 

It was about three hours after midnight, and yet the 
arctic sun was already some degrees above the eastern 
horizon, while the "old John," as if ashamed of having 
overslept herself, was running under a full head of steam 
from the spot where, only six short hours previously, we 
had anchored for the night after one of our usual " day's 
work" of eighteen hours. 

Don't smile, reader; we often worked more than 
eighteen hours out of the twenty-four, during those long 
arctic days. 

I would not have any one understand, from the fact 
that the " old John" was under a full head of steam, that 
she was rivalling a l!Torth Eiver steamer or even a fair 
sailing-scow in speed, — such, indeed, being far from the 
case, as six and a half knots the hour was the most that 
she could be prevailed upon to accomplish under steam 
only. The Government agents, in sending us to sea in 
her, doubtless thought that she was "just the vessel for 
the service;" but we, the interested parties, after some 
months' experience, became impressed with the unplea- 



374 MOST UNKEASONABLE BEINGS. 

sant conviction that she was destined to drown us all 
some fine morning, either by foundering in a gale or 
drifting helplessly on some lee shore. 

This conviction, as may be supposed, was productive 
of the most constant watchfulness on our part. I never 
saw watches kept with more praiseworthy zeal when the 
occasion demanded it. Even the crew, who were as con- 
scious as ourselves of the defects of the lame old craft, 
worked with astonishing energy to keep her afloat until 
our arrival in San Francisco, and as determinedly avowed 
their intention of leaving her at that port, "whether or 
no, Tom Collins." These unreasonable beings actualh 
looked forward to the crime of desertion, in preference 
to again "launching out upon the sea" in a vessel whose 
singular feats and annoying predilection for the shore 
had already sprinkled more than one head with gray. 

It was a tough cruise, this very "last one" at which I 
am now looking back ; and, though more than a year has 
passed since our crazy old craft returned us in safety to 
the "Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave," the 
mind still shrinks from the contemplation of past scenes, 
whose very dangers but served at the time to arouse its 
latent powers of resistance. 

How many there are, who, looking back through the 
dim and shadowy past at the more prominent adventures 
of their lives, wonder in vain as to the source of those 
unknown because previously-untaxed powers of the 
mind, by which they were enabled, in times of pressing 
need, to bear up against and finally overcome dangers 
and obstacles which, in the quiet moments of after- 
security, seem to have been burdened with certain death 



THE COMMENCEMENT OF AN ADVENTUEE. 375 

and destruction. It is upon one of these "prominent 
adventures" that I am now looking back and wondering 
how myself and some seventy others passed through it 
without the loss of that readiness of action and self-pos- 
session so essential in moments of unexpected peril td 
the safety of lives or the success of an undertaking. 

Our old tub, as I have already remarked, was running 
away from her night's anchorage under. a full head of 
steam. The rugged and snow-patched coast of Siberia 
was on our right, distant some mile or more ; several 
clustering islands dotted the smooth surface of the 
Okotsk Sea on our left ; while ahead we could just see 
what might be a ship or towering rock, so distorted were 
all objects in that direction by the great refraction com- 
mon to high latitudes. We were not long in doubt, 
however, as to the nature of this distorted object. It 
seemed to be rising bodily out of the confused horizon, 
and to be rushing upon us instead of our slowly approach- 
ing it. Could this be also refraction ? Hardly. Suddenly 
we guessed the mystery : we had been anchored during 
the night in the eddy formed by a projecting headland, 
but had now steamed out into one of the fearful currents 
against which we had been so often warned by old (but, 
as we then thought, marvel-loving) whaling-captains. It 
was the same current with which we had measured speed 
during the previous day ; only it was now running in an 
opposite direction and with evidently greater strength. 

"What was to be done now? To attempt to survey in 
such a mill-race would have been absurd. ]S"evertheless, 
we kept well in with the mainland, intending to run be- 
tween it and the distorted object, which had at length 



376 A DISAGREEABLE QUESTION. 

resolved itself into three separate masses of towering 
rock. 

The passage looked smooth and beautiful from the 
masthead at first ; but, as we approached it with our mad 
velocity, a suspicious-looking streak of foam and broken 
water was gradually discovered to connect the extreme 
right of the black-looking rocks with the mainland. 

Should this prove to be a reef but bah! why hunt up 

unpleasant subjects for thought? 

Any one who has ever watched the flying landscape from 
the window of a railroad-car can form a very fair idea of 
the appearance which the receding objects here presented 
to us. Trees, rocks, patches of snow, dark and gloomy- 
looking caves, with here and there a huge boulder, snow- 
fed torrent, or wandering bear, rushed by us in their con- 
stant flight, separate and distinct at first, but finally 
melting into one conglomerate mass of unrecognisable 
objects, over which the momentarily-withdrawn eye, 
ranged in vain for its former resting-place. This was the 
velocity with which we were going over ground now for 
the first time passed over to our knowledge, — thirteen 
miles to the hour probably, certainly not less than twelve: 
where would we all be in one minute of time should the 
"old John" suddenly find a reef or sunken rock under 
her already leaky bow ? 

Some such question as this was drifting lazily through 
my midwatch-worn mind, when I was startled by the 
voice of the captain, who, from his look-out on the top- 
sail-yard, ordered our course changed so as to pass outside 
of the rocks, as the streak of broken water before alluded 
to was evidently a reef. This discovery was no sooner 



DARK AND BITTER FEELING. 377 

made than I knew that the "old John" was in another of 
her disagreeablj-tight places ; and, when I heard the rush- 
ing tide leaping up our sides in its mad fury, and reflected 
that we had to steam against that tide before we could 
round those black and towering piles of basaltic rock 
which blocked our path with certain death, my heart for 
a moment contracted with spasmodic horror; and, when it 
again swelled almost to bursting, it was with curses deep 
and bitter against those in authority, whose stupid igno- 
rance or criminal carelessness had risked the safety of so 
many lives by detailing such a vessel for the hazardous 
undertaking of a surveying voyage around the world. 

"If there's any speed in her, it'll have to come out 
now, or it's all day with us," said a voice at my elbow. 

I turned with a look of gloomy inquiry to see the 
speaker; for the voice, though a familiar one, was 
so strangely modulated by emotion as to be scarcely 
recognisable. It was the captain, who, having nothing 
more to discover from aloft, had returned to the deck, — 
cool, calm, collected, and yet very pale ; and his voice, 
though thus strangely modulated by emotion, was firm 
and bell-like, and his eye bright, partially with moisture, 
but more than partially with the light of that fire which 
burns only in the brave man's eye when dangers crowd 
around him, or in the eagle's glance when it meets the 
rays of the mid-day sun. 

"Yes," he continued, in a voice whose forced cheerful- 
ness grated harshly on the nervous ear ; " the ' old John' 
must indeed ' scratch gravel' now, or we are lost at last. 
Tell Lawton to fire up : let us have all the steam he can. 
If the boilers won't bear it they must burst. Even now we 



378 WE LOOK UPON A THREATENING SCENE. 

are losing ground, and tliere is not much of it between 
us and those " 

He pointed to the dark and towering masses of the 
loosely-piled rock, up whose rugged sides the bruised and 
foaming sea reared its rushing surface, and through 
whose broken breast it urged its half-spent fary. No 
gravity existed there of sufficent power to drag the 
broken waters to a common level : they rolled, and 
leaped, and surged in their mad course until obstructed 
by those hoary upheavals of nature's past convulsions, 
and then pressed up their precipitous sides, or through 
dark and gloomy-looking archways, with a baffled power 
that told of ruin, and destruction, and death, to the hap- 
less ship that should be swept with them in their mad 
career. 

The general view which met the eye was awful to 
behold. 

Imagine a ship drifting with the swift current of an 
expansive river to be suddenly arrested by an unex- 
pected sandbank. The ship must now stand still : she is 
stranded. The current can sweep her no farther; it there- 
fore rears itself against her slanting side, and, rushing 
around both stem and stern, forms dozens of turbid 
whirlpools under her lee. Kow it presses up her side, 
now sinks below the general level, now leaps in broken 
masses up to her very gunwale, and all the while gurgling 
and foaming in the unsteady eddy under her lee. Ima- 
gine such a scene as this, I say, and then multiply it a 
hundredfold, and you will have a tolerable idea of the 
one from which our old ship was now straining every 
nerve to deliver us. Only in our case the " expansive 



BEYOND THE REACH OP MAN'S BRAIN. 879 

river" was a moving ocean, the "stranded ship" a rough 
and towering mass of loosely-piled rocks, and the "gurg- 
ling and foaming of the unsteady eddy" was the surging 
of the tortured waters, which, as we slowly neared in 
spite of rising steam, was fast increasing to a deafening 
roar. 

There are some throes of nature which God never in- 
tended man to describe. He reserves them in the wan- 
dering air, in the boiling centre of our common earth, in 
the fathomless depths of the slumbering ocean, or in the 
misty depths of the failing imagination, until such time 
as he sees fit to bring them before us in the shape of 
agents in his own vast and inappreciable schemes. What 
pen ever yet did justice to the raging breath of the West 
India hurricane, to the destroying action of the great vol- 
cano of Hawaii, or to the scenes of ruin and desolation 
which follow in the trail of the mysterious "bore" of the 
Hoogly and other Eastern rivers ? My pen also fails to do 
justice to the scene which I have attempted to place be- 
fore the reader. 

As I have already remarked, there were three of these 
rocks, — one immensely large, the others comparatively 
small. They were separated by passages of probably fifty 
or sixty feet in width, and were gaped and undermined 
at the water's edge by several gloomy-looking caves, 
through and down which the rushing sea seemed finding 
a channel to the very bowels of the earth. It was opposite 
the larger of these rocks, and distant from it only some 
three or four hundred yards, that we found ourselves after 
the steamer had rounded to and commenced to measure 
her speed with that of this moving ocean. Immediately 



380 BACKWARD WE GO, — SLOWLY BACKWARD. 

in our rear was the largest and most gloomy-looking of 
those downward-leading caves. It was large enough, had 
our masts been taken out, to receive the entire hull of 
the steamer into its capacious jaws; and toward these 
capacious jaws we were now being urged by a power 
which the advancing land — slowly-advancing, but still 
advancing — told us was greater than our means of resist- 
ance. 

Send the best helmsman to the wheel. Crowd the 
furnaces with coal and pitch. Jam down the safety- 
valve. Any thing for steam! — for steam and close steering 
are now the only things that can save us. 

Backward we go, — slowly backward ! The old craft, as 
if conscious of the shattered timbers and mangled forms 
which but await her touching to spring into existence, 
trembles in every joint as the tortured boilers bear their 
increasing power against the whirling screw, — seventy 
revolutions to the minute, I think, we were then making, 
— and yet backward, slowly backward, toward the yawn- 
ing death. It was sickening to see a patch of sea-weed, 
or a drifting log, pass us in their unconscious career and 
in less than a minute of time disappear upon the breast 
of the diving flood, — down, down, how far? 

Even the whales that had been rubbing their huge 
sides against our barnacled copper for the last few days 
gave one plunge deeper than the rest, and left man to 
lean upon his whirling screw and die — alone. The nu- 
merous varieties of the arctic duck, which had heretofore 
spotted the calm and polished surface of the ocean in 
every direction, were now no longer to be seen between 
us and the n earing danger. There were thousands of 



MAN LEANS UPON HIS BROKEN REED. 381 

them still drifting past; but, warned by nature's sure 
instinct, they, like tbe whale, avoided the risk of being 
thrown upon those pointed rocks, or sucked into those 
fathomless holes, by preserving a safe distance. They, 
too, using with ease the means of escape furnished them 
by an all-providing Being, left man to lean upon his 
broken reed and die — alone. Even the lost and wearied 
land-birds, which for days past had found food and 
shelter upon our decks, deserted us for a rocky perch 
just over the dark and roaring cavern toward which we 
were slowly drifting, as if selecting a commanding point 
from which to witness the approaching work of dissolu- 
tion. The very dogs crouched at our feet in trembling 
fear as the noise of the rushing waters startled them, and 
howled piteously as they gazed into faces so changed by 
deep and terrible emotion. Millions of bats and swal- 
lows left their thousand nests at those dismal and un- 
known sounds, startled by the unusual proximity of man 
to their desolate haunts, and, circling through and around 
our gear and decks, added their harsh, discordant screams 
to the roaring of the waters, and interposed their black 
and crowded masses between us and the morning sun. 
They were like dense clouds casting their passing sha- 
dows over us, — gloomy shadows, that might be shading a 
more gloomy fate. 

Backward, — slowly backward ! 

God of heaven ! must we, in this quiet state of mo- - 
tionless inactivity, drift inch by inch into that howling 
cavern, or wilfully throw ourselves upon the sharp rocks 
of the sunken reef as the only alternative ? Is man, and 
man only, with the vast resources of his mighty intellect 



882 THE DESPERATE ALTERNATIVE. 

to aid him, to be strangled, suiFocated, mangled, destroyed, 
while the inferior animals around him swim majestically 
away, or hover on fearless wings over the sullen and 
hopeless struggle ? Is time to end now, as far as we are 
concerned ? — we who have still such strong frames, such 
glowing blood, such vivid recollections of the past, such 
yearnings of hope for the future, such nerve to struggle 
against this hideous fate could we but grasp it in some 
tangible form ? 

Is that bright sun now shining upon us for the last 
time ? — us, whose path it was created to light ? May not 
some wandering breeze reach us in its wayward course, 
to fill our idle sails and urge us forward while yet a few 
short yards exist between us and that rocky pile ? Alas, 
no ! The stern and lowering brow contracts in hopeless 
despair over a broad expanse of calm and polished ocean, 
while backward — slowly backward — we drop against the 
struggling screw. 

We can no longer measure our yards by hundreds. 
Time is drawing to a close, and space seems shrinking 
into nothing as though they journeyed to a common 
grave. A strong arm might have cast a stone into that 
yawning gulf, when a single order, the first that had 
been given for apparently an age, told us that the despe- 
rate choice had been made. 

To be thrown upon the sharp rocks of the sunken 
reef by the boiling ocean which swept over them, as- 
sured us of at least a sunlit grave ; while the dark depths 
of the dismal-looking cavern, rendered doubly dark and 
gloomy by the contrast with the snowy foam which 
frothed around its mouth, resembled in their inky hue 



GLOOM, HORROR, AND DESPAIR. 383 

the commencement of the shadow of the valley of 
death. 

" Starboard !" 

Reader, do you know what that single word meant? 
"Would you see it drawn out into good old English ? 

It meant that there no longer existed a hope of being 
^able to steam against the rushing tide with our powerless 
propeller and leaking boilers. It meant that we were to 
go to death upon the foaming reef in preference to being 
swept into his embrace in those gloomy depths. It meant 
that the throbbing brain of him whose slightest word was 
law even in that moment of awful suspense had decided 
to give up the unequal struggle and accept the hopeless 
alternative. It meant that by our own act we were re- 
signing the few minutes during which the struggle might 
be protracted, to rush headlong upon the less revolting 
death. It meant that at the end of those "few minutes" 
certain and instantaneous death awaited us, and that at 
the end of those few seconds possible salvation for a few 
hours was in store for him who should grasp a broken spar 
or buoyant cask when the vessel's hull should be ground 
from under us, and the confused mass of shattered tim- 
bers, tangled gear, and mangled forms be swept over the 
boiling line into the fathomless water beyond. It meant 
that the moment was at hand when the weak man was to 
find a speedy end, and when the strong man was to feel his 
sinewy arm slowly deaden from the protracted labour of 
self-preservation: slowly, but surely, all flesh must sink. 
And it meant that brave hearts were now to die, and 
that fond hearts in another hemisphere were to weep 
their unknown fate and languish in lonely sorrow until 



384 UNLOOKED-FOR SALVATION. 

time to them, also, should draw to a close. All this it 
meant; and horror, and despair, and approaching dissolu- 
tion, gathered around us. 

"Starboard it is, sir!" said the ready helmsman ; and 
as he spoke the wheel turned evenly under his nervous 
grasp, and the old ship's head dropped slowly off. Bodily, 
hopelessly, broadside on, she now drifted toward the last 
struggle. How quickly those few seconds glide, — small 
seconds of time, but awful, awful taxes upon the mind's 
future stability ! Men live through past ages in moments 
like those. The strained and labouring brain burns with 
a fire that whitens the locks of youth, or sows the seeds 
of future disease, through sheer intensity of thought. 

It is come ! Men cease to breathe, and, with half-closed 
eyes and muscles of iron, grasp a swinging rope or near 
belaying-pin with unconscious power ! 

What? The reef! Where is it? A merciful Being 
smiled upon his helpless creatures and strengthened their 
broken reed in that moment of their dire extremity. Our 
eyes had deceived us. Eyes whose business it had been 
for years to discover the unknown reef, and to distinguish 
between that and the deceptive tide-rip, had failed for 
once. No reef existed. It was the peculiar formation of 
the land, combined with the fearful velocity of the rush- 
ing ocean, which created a tide-rip that might well have 
deceived a thousand eyes. And, as we drifted wildly over 
the boiling space into the " fathomless waters beyond," 
man's failing eye, which had been dry and hard and burn- 
ing while death held out his fleshless arms, softened with 
cooling moisture, until those shapeless piles of towering 
rock grew dim and undefined in their uncertain vision. 



BUNSBY GETS EXCITED. d»5 

It was with fearful speed that we had drifted around 
the angular corner of the in-shore rock, and it was soon 
left far, far astern. Men began again to look around 
them and breathe freely : the danger was past ; we again 
went on our careless way. 

"Blast her miserable timbers !" said our friend Bunsby, 
as he took the old ship in at a single indignant glance : 
"if she'd only them chaps in Congress as her crew, them 
in the Cabinet as her officers, and the old President for 
cap'n, I'd as soon see her sink as float, — shiver her !" And, 
with this emphatic expression of " an opinion as was an 
opinion," he wondered "how much longer we had to live 
now,'' and threw from his mouth a piece of exhausted 
tobacco which must have weighed something more than 
an ounce. 

Indignation at being sent to sea in such a ship was 
evidently the paramount feeling in Bunsby's breast at 
that moment. "What a most unreasonable being he was, 
truly, to indulge in such a wish as to the various heads 
of the Grovernment ! "Who would not approve, as fair and 
just, the arming of a good swordsman with a bending 
lath and sending him to fight his battle ? It was, I sup- 
pose, upon this principle that we — machines of flesh and 
blood whose only duty it is to obey orders — were armed 
with a miserable old craft, neither sail-vessel or steamer, 
and sent to battle the gales of every clime, to discover 
and locate the very dangers which better ships do their 
best to shun. "Would that we were all Bunsbys, or that 
common sense and humanity would combine to sweep' 
from the ocean all such man-traps as the ci-devant water- 

25 



386 I THE SIBERIAN VILLAGE OF OLA. 

tank, the present "United States screw-steamer-of-war 
of the third class," John Hancock. 

The day following this narrow escape, we found our- 
selves at anchor near a Siberian village, the name of 
which proved to be Ola. "We had heard much of this 
settlement from whalers before reaching the coal-mine, — 
one of those explorers having enlivened us with the in- 
formation that the natives were pleasant and friendly, 
and that they had quantities of beef, milk, and fish, be- 
sides a limited supply of vegetables. He further told us 
that they were totally unacquainted with the value of 
money, and that we could trade with them to great 
advantage by drawing largely upon the purser's store- 
room for flannel, silk handkerchiefs, tobacco, sugar, rice, 
molasses, &c. &c., — all of which we found to be strictly 
the case. I had often heard of such innocent people, but 
never before saw human beings who had no idea of the 
value of money. Even the Kuriles have Japanese coin, 
and the Fejee Islanders buy and sell with the foreigners 
on their cannibal shores. But I am again wandering 
from my narrative. 

As soon as the anchor was down, we called away three 
boats and started to find the mouth of the river upon the 
banks of which we had been told Ola was situated, and 
in these boats went at least half of the entire ^personnel 
of the "old John:" it was not everyday that we had 
either the time or the opportunity to indulge in similar 
sprees, and when they thus presented themselves "hand 
in hand" they always found us ready. 

Our three boats left the ship at the same time, and, after 
a longer pull than we had looked for, reached the mouth 



THEIR FAMILIARITY WITH OUR LANGUAGE. 387 

of tlie river. It proved to be a stream of some ten or 
fifteen yards in width, with a bad bar across its mouth, — 
so bad, in fact, that we beached our boats near its outer 
edge in preference to risking a ducking. We then 
walked a mile or more over a flat, boggy piece of land, 
through which ran our river, as well as several smaller 
streams, and, finally, arrived opposite a scattered collec- 
tion of log houses, from which the people were running 
to welcome us. Let us see what my journal says: — 

" The river being between us, they launched a couple 
of ' dug-outs' to ferry us over ; which accomplished, we 
were received by a crowd of from fifteen to twenty 
natives in a most friendly manner ; and they no sooner 
saw our articles of barter than they became unpleasantly 
so, insisting on shaking hands over and over again, and 
motioning us to follow them to their houses, where they 
had other articles which they would exchange for ours. 

""We readily understood these signs, which were as- 
sisted by a few slang expressions picked up from whalers, 
and, with our ' peddler-packs' under our arms, followed 
them up from the river-bank. As we went along we 
gazed with longing eyes at the stunted but plump-looking 
bullocks and the trim little milch-cows that dotted the 
undulating country ahead of us, and intimated by signs 
that what we principally wanted to trade for was meat to 
eat and milk to drink. At this they laughed promisingly, 
and got off the expression ' bum-by' quite patly ; after 
which they laughed heartily at their evident familiarity 
with our language, and became more affectionate than 
ever. 

""What seemed to surprise and please them most was 



388 CALICO DRESSES AND LOG HOUSES. 

our being dressed in uniform, they having been pre- 
viously visited by none but whalers, whose universal habits 
it is to consult only the respective states of their wardrobe, 
and the temperature of the air, while putting on their 
variegated apparel. Most of us on this occasion wore 
blue flannel sack-coats with the usual abundant allowance 
of naval buttons ; and these they were particularly struck 
with, making signs that they would like nothing better 
than to exchange their own fur ' over-alls' for them. In 
return, we intimated that our clothes would be too cool 
for them ; but they only laughed and pointed to several 
women who now approached, some of whom were rigged 
out (evidently in honour of the occasion) in fancy calico 
dresses, while the others were, as usual, clothed in loose 
garments made from the skin of the reindeer. 

" "We found several of those women quite pretty, in 
spite of the ungraceful and masculine nature of their 
attire; and they joined the party in a very modest and 
retiring manner, shaking hands laughingly with each of 
us who noticed them, and accompanying us to the house 
of the headman of the village, who proved to be one of 
those who had received us so warmly at the landing.'' 

And now, before I go any further, I may as well give 
the reader an idea of the houses of that village, and of 
the people who lived in them. The former were of dif- 
ferent styles, though they were all built of logs with 
their crevices filled in with a mixture of mud and grass. 
The larger ones resembled our ordinary log cabins, with 
the exception of the absence of windows and chimneys, — 
an extensive skylight in the middle of the roof serving 
to admit light as well as to permit the escape of smoke. 



BEDS AND BEDCLOTHES AT OLA. 389 

Their flooring was the natural soil levelled off; and down 
the entire length of their centres ran a raised bed of earth 
of some four or five feet in width, that was kept from 
crumbling down by a framework of posts and rough 
planks. 

Around this earthen work ran a gangway of about the 
same width, while around the sides of the building 
itself were tier upon tier of sleeping-bunks, — very much 
like a ship's forecastle, — the bottoms of which were filled 
with skins of black bear, reindeer, and other animals : 
these evidently answered the purpose of both bed and 
bedclothes, and presented any thing but an inviting ap- 
pearance. In the centre of the earthen work there was 
kept up a constant fire, the smoke of which, curling up 
among the rafters, served to cure quantities of hanging 
salmon before effecting its escape through the " extensive 
skylight." From the smoke of the constant fires that 
were thus kept up, their interiors had assumed a smoky 
hue, which, assisted by the smell of fish, gave every thing 
a look of greasy filthiness. "We soon concluded that the 
open air was best adapted to the business of trafficking, 
and " backed out" accordingly. 

The second style of house was, as I have already re- 
marked, similar to these as far as material was concerned, 
but no further. They were, like the Malay houses of 
Eangou, raised upon from four to eight posts to an eleva- 
tion of several feet, but, unlike them, were floored with 
small saplings or rough plank. They were some ten feet 
square as a general rule, boasted a single door and no 
windows, and were without chimneys. Their floor was 
about three feet from the ground, so that they could be 



390 WE ATTACK THE HEADMAN's DAIRY. 

climbed into easily without the aid of steps. Of course 
they had no fire in them, they being used mostly as 
sleeping-quarters. 

We did not enter any of them, but, upon looking in, 
saw nothing but piles upon piles of skins, which, being 
spread out very evenly, gave the whole apartment the 
appearance of one vast "field-bed." Their doors shut 
quite closely and worked upon wooden hinges, and they 
were sometimes locked with padlocks, (obtained from the 
whale-ships which visit them from time to time,) in which 
cases we generally found that they acted the part of store- 
houses. As sleeping-apartments they were decidedly 
preferable to the larger ones, as they were free from the 
odour of fish, and the absence of fire left their sides 
and contents of a reasonable colour. 

When we came to buy our milk, the headman beckoned 
us to follow him with our bottles, and led the way to his 
particular "lock-up," where he opened the door with a 
wire key, (having lost the original,) and disclosed to our 
brightening eyes the long-untasted luxury ranged around 
its sapling fiooring in tin pans and cool-looking earthen 
jars. "We bought it by the jar — each one a jar — and began 
on the spot to make up for lost time. Who can tell how 
much our scurvy-threatened palates enjoyed these pro 
tracted draughts ? 

In addition to these houses, there were any number 
of sheds scattered about for drying fish previous to the 
smoking-process. These were rigged with light mova- 
ble roofs, so that the fish might be exposed to the sun 
as well as protected from rain. They told us that, when 
bad weather came on, they hauled over the roofs, and 



A COMMON FAILING OF YOUNG LADIES. 391 

built fires under tliem to lessen the eflfect of the 
moisture. 

Dogs, children, and fish seemed to prevail to a greater 
extent than any thing else, though cattle and grown 
people were far from scarce. These latter were rather 
below the middle stature than otherwise, and we could 
not distinguish between them and the natives near the 
coal-mine. Their complexion was a sickly bronzed 
olive, features irregular, and they were dressed mostly 
in loose trousers, smockfrock, and hood, — all being 
made from the skin of the reindeer. Some of them 
w^ore the fur inside; others, out: just as the fancy 
seemed to strike them. The same garment could be 
worn either way. 

Describing complexions is not my forte ; and some one 
may ask, "What is a sickly bronze ?" They looked like 
persons of a naturally-fair complexion who had been 
chronically darkened from generation to generation ; 
for even the infants partook of the general hue. Their 
forms were remarkably light and sinewy, their eye 
bright, and the springing step of their moccasin-clad 
feet indicated muscles of unfailing elasticity. The 
more youthful of the fair (?) sex were lively, cheerful, 
and far from ugly, boasting hands and feet of rare 
mould and dimensions. Like young ladies of almost 
every latitude, they seemed to think that the fact of 
their being young and pretty entitled them to an extra 
amount of consideration ; and I am free to acknowledge 
that they got as many skeins of silk, papers of needles, 
&c. &c. for their well-expended smiles as did their more 



392 ONLY A SUMMER RESORT. 

elderly companions for their bullocks, fist, and other 
articles of trade. 

Having now given the reader an idea of the Siberian 
settlement of Ola and of the people who lived in it, 
I will proceed to show how it was that they came 
there, and what they did after arriving ; for Ola was not 
inhabited all the year round. But this subject is, I 
think, worthy of being introduced at the head of another 
chapter. 



CHAPTER XX. 

BOME OTHER THINGS ABOUT "OLA," SHOWING THE EEADER HOW AN OLD 
WOMAN NEARLY LOST HEB FAVOURITE MILCH-COW, AND HOW THET CATCH 

FISH IN THAT OUT-OF-THE-WAY PART OF THE WORLD, ETC. ETC. WE 

ARRIVE AT FABIUS ISLAND, BAY OP TAOUSK, AND REGALE OURSELVES 
UPON WHORTLEBERRIES. 

From all that we could learn tlien and subsequently, 
it seems that the country back of Ola is rather thinly 
populated, and that what people there are come down 
to the sea with the return of spring for the purpose of 
catching and curing supplies of the salmon which visit 
certain localities in countless shoals. They work at 
this business during most of their short summers, and 
then return before the approaching winter to their 
more sheltered homes with their provender, in the shape 
of smoked and dried fish. 

"When they break out from the confinement of their 
long winters, they emigrate, with their horses, cows, 
dogs, and sleighs, to some such " summer resort" as 
Ola, where they take possession of the houses that 
have been vacant all winter, and commence to catch 
their fish, and trade with any whaler that may visit 
them. They also often plant turnips from seed origin- 
ally obtained from said whalers, which in the short 
space of six weeks will grow to double the size of one's 

393 



394 THEIR ARTICLES OF TRAFFIC. 

list; but, unfortunately for us of the "old John," they 
had neglected doing so the season we were there. 

All that we found them able to trade with us for were, 
firstly, fish without end ; secondly, three small bullocks ; 
thirdly, some three or four gallons of milk; fourthly, 
several hundred Siberian squirrel-skins; fifthly and 
lastly, the coarser skins of the black bear, the rein- 
deer, and another animal, whose name I forget. In 
addition to these, there were various articles of dress 
that they would gladly have exchanged; but, as most 
of them had been worn, we did not do much in that 
line. One very pretty girl I remember in particular, 
who, having fallen in love with a red silk handkerchief 
that I had purposely flaunted before her eyes, offered 
me every thing about her house, even to a pair of richly- 
worked buckskin moccasins, made long like a boot and 
having embroidered strings with which to tie them 
over the knee. She pointed to the large house of the 
headman, and made signs, as she measured one of them 
along her foot to show how it fitted, that she had only worn 
them upon one occasion, and that was when a number 
of whalers had landed with a fiddle and they had had a 
feast and a dance under its hospitable roof, and that 
they were not the least the worse for wear. There was 
only one way for me to get over this species of argu- 
ment, and that was by putting my foot alongside of 
hers, and asking, by signs, what manner of use they 
could ever prove to me. And to this she replied by 
flinging them into a corner and snatching at the hand- 
kerchief with a determined, " have-it-whether-or-no-Tom- 
Collins" air that spoke her disappointment more strongly 



THE PUKSER IS CAUTIONED TO "LOOK SHARP." 395 

than the best English could have done. I ended by 
giving it to her for thirty squirrel-skins, a reindeer-robe, 
and the contemned moccasins ; and the reader must not 
accuse me of having weathered the unsophisticated 
beauty in the trade until he or she reads further and 
sees vrhat little value they attached to their articles of 
traffic and how great a value to ours. 

"We had been cautioned by various whalers as to the 
nature of the things they most longed for, and had taken 
the precaution, before leaving the ship, to load ourselves 
down with such. They consisted of the following ar- 
ticles: — fancy calicoes, cotton or silk handkerchiefs, 
needles and thread, brilliantly-coloured sewing-silk, (of 
which we had bought many pounds in China,) all kinds 
of old clothes, molasses, rice, tobacco, spirits, flannel, 
blankets ; in short, almost every thing except money. 

It would have been amusing to have stood off and 
watched the various groups as they carried on their 
trading. In the foreground, first and foremost in re- 
sources, stood the purser, with the Government at his 
back in the shape of endless supplies of flannel and 
tobacco, and the captain at his elbow urging upon him 
the necessity of securing bullocks and vegetables for the 
ship's company before they were bought up by the dif- 
ferent messes. Now, as the bullocks were drifting about 
over the hills with natives already following them upon 
"fell murder intent," and as no vegetables had yet been 
discovered, the purser — very naturally — could not see the 
necessity for any further exertion on his part, and was 
evidently disposed to " take it easy." The elbow-jogging, 
therefore, only resulted in causing him to seat himself 



39G TERKIBLE FRIGHT OF THE HEADMAN'S MOTHER. 

upon his wares and wait for the headman to drive up his 
bullocks and fix his price. The purser was a philoso- 
pher, and, at the same time, a most immovable specimen 
of the fraternitj:. 

In another direction was to be seen a party of three or 
four exchanging a half-plug of tobacco for a jar of milk, 
and evincing unmistakable signs of a determination to 
arrive at the bottom of their purchase before engaging 
in any further speculation, while, at the same time, some 
more fastidious companion rushed toward them with the 
exclamation, "Don't drink it on shore ! wait until we get 
on board and change it to a brandy-punch," or words to 
that effect. 

Here were to be seen some of the crew, already heavily 
loaded with hundreds of smoked salmon, putting down 
their bundles and bargaining for others simjply because 
they were cheap; while in another quarter was one who, 
having bought all that he wanted, amused himself by 
giving away the remnant of his trading-stock, thus draw- 
ing down upon his unsuspecting head the censure of 
those who, having as yet bought nothing, could see no 
prospect of bringing the natives to a trade as long as he 
continued said amusement. 

Then, again, there was our heavily-whiskered boat- 
swain's mate driving a bargain with the mother of the 
headman for her favourite milch-cow and calf, while she 
was all the while under the impression that he spoke of 
the calf only. Her surprise may be imagined when she 
saw him driving off the two, for which he had only 
given her two plugs of tobacco and a black silk neck- 
handkerchief Of course she returned to the charge. 



cows EAT FISH IN SIBERIA. 397 

and, as is usual in most disputes between the sexes, con- 
vinced him of his mistake and rescued her favourite. 

And, lastly, there was the writer himself, with, his red 
silk handkerchief and the unsophisticated arctic belle, 
with her embroidered boots and petulant air, to fill up 
the picture. It was a pleasant evening that we thus 
passed among those truly simple and harmless l^orth- 
erners. Finally, we got through with our trading and 
began to walk around and indulge in a general survey 
of every thing worth noting. "We looked upon the 
horses and cattle that were sprinkled around us enjoy- 
ing the summer grass, and asked our hosts how they 
managed to feed them during their long winters. They 
pointed to the grass and made signs that they cut it 
while the sun was hot and put it up in piles ; and that, 
when that was exhausted, they had recourse to the 
branches of the pine-trees, which were always plentiful, 
but not so good. 

They also said that they fed all of their animals on the 
heads and backbones of fish, and, upon our laughing at 
this as absurd, one of them reached overhead, (we were 
in the headman's house at the time,) and, taking down 
one of them, motioned us to follow him outside, where 
he threw it to the old woman's favourite milch-cow, who 
made sbort work of it, and then wiped out her tongue as 
if asking for more. 

I must say that the sight surprised me exceedingly. 
The idea of a cow eating fish was not only ridiculous, 
but almost disgusting, when one looked back upon the 
milk-drinking spree that we had just indulged in ; but 
we were destined to be still further surprised by one of 



398 HOAV WE PERSUADE A YOUNG BULLOCK. 

the natives pointing to a scrubby-looking little pony and 
intimating that he also was a great fish-eater. 

We asked if the milk never tasted fi.shy, and they 
pointed to the grass and to the sun, which we took to 
mean that, during the summer and as long as their hay 
lasted, they were not fed on fish. I could not help going 
back a great many years and recalling a taste of wild 
onions that had saved a whole dairy of milk from the 
unlawful attentions of a party of wearied hunters, of 
whom I was one, and wondering which of the two — fish 
or onions — would be most calculated to afford protection 
to the dairymen under similar circumstances. 

We had now been on shore some time, and, as it was 
a long walk to the boats and our purchases were far 
from light, we began to make up our bundles and pre- 
pare for the return. We found considerable difiiculty at 
first in persuading a young bullock as to the propriety 
of accompanying us; but, finally, through the instru- 
mentality of a strong line around his horns and three 
or four tough switches about his rear, he was induced to 
make very good time as far as the boat, where he was 
tied securely and stowed under the thwarts and trans- 
ported on board of the "John." 

On our way down we passed a small stream where 
some of the natives were preparing to catch their usual 
daily supply of salmon, and some of us lingered behind 
the main party to see how they succeeded and to carry a 
few fresh ones on board for supper. 

I have seen fish caught in all parts of the world by 
dozens of nations and in a dozen different ways, but 



HOW THEY CATCH FISH AT OLA. 399 

never did I see any thing like the scene that then came 
off near the mouth of this small stream. 

"When we arrived, the natives were stretching across 
this stream a heavy seine, made from the sinews of the 
reindeer and other animals: we found it some thirty feet 
wide, and only waist-deep at high water, and its current 
by no means as rapid as is usual ia those high latitudes. 
"We crossed to the other shore in a "dug-out," and, put- 
ting our bundles on the bank, seated ourselves upon them 
to see how they fished at Ola. 

On either bank they had strong posts driven near the 
water's edge, to which the seine was to be secured; and, 
as the flood-tide was now pretty w^ell done running, we 
were just in time to see the commencement of the sport. 
As we were thus seated upon the bank, we could see 
whole shoals of the unsuspecting salmon swimming 
quietly up stream with, the slackening tide ; and, as this 
latter obtained its height, the seine was drawn tightly 
from post to post and its foot secured to the bottom by 
heavy stones. Thus all of the fish that had passed up, 
and which would naturally return to the sea with the 
ebbing tide, would be stopped by this seine and fall 
an easy prey to their active enemies. 

It was an exciting moment when the first returning 
shoal brought up against the unexpected barrier, the 
meshes of which were large enough to let the small fry 
pass, but at the same time sufliciently small to arrest for 
the time the larger ones, if not to stop them altogether. 
Any one who has ever seen a well-filled seine hauled upon 
a beach can well imagine the foaming state into which 
the closely-packed fish soon lashed the water; and, when 



400 HOW THEY MULTIPLY BY THREE. 

a dozen or more men waded in among them with short, 
heavy clubs, and commenced striking right and left at the 
heads of the largest as they darted around, the excite- 
ment of the scene and the lashing of the waters in- 
creased tenfold. I had never before imagined that so 
many fish could be taken in so short a time : we were 
certainly not on the spot over ten minutes after they 
began ; and yet, as we marched off with a fine salmon 
added to our former loads, they must have already 
thrown at least a ton-weight of noble fish upon the banks. 

There they were received by the women and children, 
who, with a sharp knife and piece of board each, soon 
multiplied their original unity by the number three : that 
is, they would seize a salmon, averaging from eighteen to 
twenty-eight inches, by the gills with the left hand, lay 
him out on the board, and before you could snap your 
finger twice he would be divided into three pieces, of 
which the head, tail, and backbone constituted one, and 
the two sides the remaining. These latter were thrown 
in a pile by themselves, with some regard to cleanliness ; 
but the former were pitched about in the dirt in every 
direction, not because they were not to be used, but sim- 
ply from the fact that they were to be cured as winter 
provender for the dogs, horses, and cows. "We had 
already seen vast quantities of them both hanging over 
the fires in their houses, and had, as I have already re- 
marked, seen a cow crunch up a head, tail, and backbone^ 
with evident relish. And this I do not wish to be re- 
garded as a "fish-story," for it is true, though doubtless 
curious, and it is as a curious truth that I introduce it. 

I have said that we did not remain at this scene of 



WHAT THEY DESIRE MOST. 401 

wholesale slaughter more than ten minutes, and must 
now acknowledge that, after the first excitement of seeing 
so many fine fish caught had passed away, I was taken 
with a fit of begrudging disgust — if I may be allowed the 
expression — that rendered a further stay rather unpleasant 
than otherwise. We had been on salt provisions so long 
that it looked like sinful waste to destroy so many noble 
fish in a few short minutes, while the pools of blood 
about the boards and the peculiar fishy odour that per- 
vaded the atmosphere gave rise to disgust:' hence the 
combined feeling of "begrudging disgust." 

Well, we left them, and, as we did so, pointed to the 
piles of fish and then to the ship, giving them to under- 
stand that if they would bring some on board we would 
give them tobacco in exchange. They were like the 
Kamtchadales of the coal-mine village, — more in favour 
of trading for liquor than any other article ; but this we 
did not encourage, simply from motives of humanity ; and it 
is to be greatly regretted that all ships that break in thus 
upon their innocent solitude should not pursue a similar 
course of conduct. I cannot imagine a more weighty 
moral responsibility than that which attaches itself to the 
bearing of persons visiting, for the first time, these and 
similarly-benighted branches of the great human family; 
and yet it seems to be an invariable fact that primitive 
savages, in their first intercourse with the more cultivated 
members of their genus, are ofiered every thing calcu- 
lated to increase their degradation, while all ennobling 
actions and truths are further than ever removed from 
their reach. But to return to Ola and the manner in 
which the simple natives complied with our intimation 

26 



402 NEVER MIND ZE EXPENSE. 

in regard to sending us off a part of the fruits of their 
evening's labour. We had not been on board ship an 
hour when the quartermaster reported three boat-loads of 
fish as having arrived alongside, and wished to know if 
they were to be passed on board. 

" Oh yes," replied the first lieutenant; "let them come : 
I suppose we can look out for them." 

So we heard nothing more about it, until, happening to 
go on deck, we saw piles upon piles of the most superb 
salmon. I suppose there must have been three or four 
tons of them, and how we were to use th.em was now the 
question. I believe (to the best of my memory) that we 
paid two plugs of tobacco (two pounds) for each boat- 
load, — certainly not more than two or three dollars' worth 
of articles for the entire quantity ; and, as I have already 
said, there were several tons' weight on our decks. I 
could not help thinking how fine a business some enter- 
prising Yankee packer might drive for three or four 
months in the year could he only visit Ola in a small 
vessel filled w^ith barrels, salt, and men who understand 
the business of pickling salmon. He might readily fill 
his ship and find a certain market along the coast of Cali- 
fornia, Mexico, and South America; or he might even 
run over to the coast of China, should he fail elsewhere. 

Well, the question now was, what were we to do with 
so many fish ? And, as no one could well answer it, the 
word was passed throughout the ship for all the messes 
to take what tliey wanted, '■'■ loiihoiit any regard to ex'penise f 
as Hartman once remarked to a "nonplussed" waiter 
when calling for a glass of water: — "A glass of water, 
waiter, and never mind ze expense." 



FINE LARGE SALMON BY THE TON. 403 

This word was no sooner passed around the decks than 
all the salt and old beef and pork barrels in the ship 
made their appearance about the fish-piles, and before 
the hammocks were piped down that night a dozen or 
more of them were filled with brine and cleaned salmon ; 
and there were still so many left that, when the time came 
to wash the decks off next morning, the officer of the 
deck had to throw quantities of them overboard. It was 
more than a week before we could wash the ship clear 
of the smell of fish ; and I doubt if any of the officers or 
crew of the "old John" will ever again relish that article 
of food with any thing like their former zest. 

Even before thus getting our decks clear of the surplus 
fish, the "old John's" restless anchor was again at the 
cat-head, as with low steam and furled sails we continued 
the survey of the coast along the shores of the Bay of 
Taousk. 

The weather was calm and clear at first, but the next 
day it came on to blow fresh, and we were forced to an- 
chor again for shelter well in under the land. Finally, 
the bad spell blew by, and we were once more under way 
for Fabius Island, Bay of Taousk, where we hoped to find 
a plentiful supply of wood and water. Arrived at our 
destination, we fell in with a whaler, whose captain kindly 
came . on board and piloted us in to a good anchorage. 
"We found a good berth well in with the island, let go our 
anchor, and sent the dingy in charge of an officer to exa- 
mine a spot where the whaler had told us that a stream 
of water ran down from the mountain into the sea. 
"When the boat returned, her officer confirmed the state- 
ment of the whaler; and, yet, as one looked at Fabius 



404 A GREAT SPREE ON WHORTLEBERRIES. 

Island, it was difficult to imagine how any amount of 
water could flow from its breast. It was a double peak 
rising bodily out of the sea and composed entirely of its 
rocky beach, ravined sides, and double crest. There were 
no signs of water as you looked upon its general appear- 
ance, and we long wondered where it could come from : 
our wonder was subsequently solved by the captain, who 
ascended to its summit and found there in the sheltered 
ravine, between the two peaks, an immense bed of snow, 
whose gradual melting supplied the valuable stream. 
The whole island was not more than a mile in circum- 
ference, and its elevation was probably six hundred feet ; 
it was distant about one-half or three-quarters of a mile 
from the mainland, and its rocky shores were strewed with 
the finest drift-wood. Its sides and summits also proved 
to be plentifully covered with a species of whortleberry, 
which we gathered in large quantities and enjoyed as 
men only can enjoy such things who have been on the 
salt sea for months. I shall always remember Tabius 
Island as long as my appetite and taste for whortleberries 
last. 

We were anchored there three or four days, engaged in 
the work of wooding, watering, &c., and during that time 
we got up several bear-hunts through the ravines of the 
island without success. There were but two indications 
of animal life ever having existed along its rocky sides 
and berry-covered heights, and these were the carcase of 
a dead whale that had been washed upon the rocks, and 
the whitening bones of some unfortunate bear, who had 
probably died from old age or the effects of a distant shot 
from some passing whale-bofrt. Our daily hunts, there- 



"WE FEAST ON WILD DUCKS. . 405 

fore, resolved themselves into w^hortleberrj-gatlierings ; 
and I don't know but that we enjoyed these latter as 
much or more than we should have done a bear-steak. 

This island formed quite a fine harbour with the main- 
land, and we made a thorough survey of it before leaving. 
There were no signs of habitations either on it or on the 
shores of the adjacent main, the nearest settlement being 
a place called Armen, located some seven miles to the 
westward ; and of it I shall speak shortly. 

On the second day after anchoring, and although it was 
well known that we were to carry the ship to Armen as 
soon as the wooding and watering was accomplished, the 
entire mess, with the exception of myself and an engi- 
neer, took our lightest-pulling boat and started to visit it 
without delay : we had heard from our friend the whaling- 
captain, who had piloted us in to our anchorage, that 
wild ducks were as plentiful there as fish had been at Ola ] 
and, having our appetites thus sharpened for game, the 
majority of the mess became impatient and started as 
above in the hope of obtaining a suppl3^ 

They had a hard time of it, — -much harder than any one 
had supposed at all probable, — and returned at midnight 
pretty well fagged out. They had had to pull themselves 
there and back, for the crew were employed fore and aft, 
and the first lieutenant, who himself formed one of the 
party, would not consent that the work should be retarded. 
They brought back with them, however, ample payment 
in the shape of sixty-three broad-billed ducks, four of 
which we had for breakfast, and as many more for dinner 
on the day following. 

Our friend the whaler partook of the latter with us, 



406 COLD-WEATHER YARNS. 

aud paid for his dinner by telling us many amusing- 
anecdotes of whaling and arctic life. Among other 
things he told us of a friend of his, the captain of a 'New 
Bedford whaler, who, having remained about this island 
too late in the season, hoping to fill his ship with oil, had 
got her frozen in, and been thus kept there until the 
spring thaw came on. During the severe winter which 
ensued, the whole ocean became one solid mass of ice, 
and the island and mainland were covered to a great 
depth by incessant falls of snow. While thus frozen in, 
his ship was often visited by bear, until they began to 
recognise it as an object from which they were always 
fired upon, after' which they gave it a wide berth. He 
had often, he said, seen these animals miles out to sea- 
ward on the ice, as long as it was firm and solid ; but as 
soon as it began to thaw they seemed to know that it 
was no longer a safe promenade, and confined themselves 
to the scarcely-recognisable beach. 

He also confirmed previous accounts, of which we 
had both heard and read, as to the inordinate amount 
of food that is required to maintain animal heat during 
severe winters. Many bear had been killed from the 
ships, he said, whose meat proved a most seasonable 
auxiliary to their regular rations, which would have been 
exhausted long before the return of temperate weather, 
had it not been for that. He had heard of one man 
eating fifteen pounds of bear-meat in a single day; and, 
although Parry, Sir John Franklin, and other arctic 
explorers, mention a still greater quantity as a matter 
of every-day consumption, still, it was curious and inte- 
resting to have it confirmed in this way. 



WHAT WAS NECESSARY TO OUR HAPPINESS- 407 

I shall never forget the feeling of intense satisfaction 
with which, we sat down to the dinner at which we 
heard all of these and various other pieces of informa- 
tion. All that we wanted to make us 'perfectly happy was 
a few side-dishes of vegetables and a letter each from 
home. We had been without these two luxuries even 
longer than we had without fresh meat, and yearned 
for the one nearly as much as the other. "We had then 
only a faint idea of the treat that awaited us at Armen 
in the shape of an abundant supply of turnips; for, 
though many whalers had spoken positively as to their 
being grown there, still, we had been told the same 
thing of Ola, and had been disappointed. Moreover, 
our party, who had succeeded in getting the ducks, 
had neither seen nor heard of them; hence, we were 
in a miserable state of doubtful anxiety. IlTevertheless, 
as soon as we had filled with wood and water, we con- 
tinued the coast-line with hopeful hearts : — with intoxi- 
cating visions of huge turnips ahead and the boiling 
water of the revolving screw astern. 



CHAPTER XXI. 

■WE VISIT ARMEN AND BUT TUKNIPS "BY THE PATCH," ENCOTTNTEK A 
VITUPERATIVE GENTLEMAN AND SOME VERT PRETTY YOUNG LADIES, 

AND RETURN ON BOARD AFTER WHICH WE STEAM FARTHER DOWN THE 

COAST, PAT A NOCTURNAL VISIT TO ANOTHER SETTLEMENT, AND END 
BY ATTEMPTING TO WADE A SIBERIAN FORD. 

"We arrived off the moutli of the river on which Armen 
is located, after a two-hours' run from Fabius Island, and, 
after having let go our anchor in four fathoms of water, 
called away three boats and prepared to go on shore. 
It was a fine day, and we had the whole of it before us ; 
for the captain had determined to let us have one day to 
ourselves, if only to enable us to lay in a good supply 
of ducks and turnips. 

Two of these boats were cutters, while the third was 
the tomtit, which four of us took, thinking we would be 
able to sail on shore sooner than the heavier boats would 
be able to pull. The breeze was blowing quite fresh 
off the land, and had got up quite a little sea ; but then 
it was not dead ahead, and we expected to get along 
quite swimmingly by making long and short legs. We 
therefore, having provided ourselves with an ample sup- 
ply of articles of traffic, such as tobacco, matches, gaudy 
handkerchiefs, old clothes, &c., stepped over the side into 
our little boat, and, making the boys get out, shoved 
off in grand style, hoisted our sail, and stood down 

the coast with the boldness of so many sheep. 
408 



WE MAKE THE BEST OF A BAD BARGAIN. 409 

There were four of us in this party, — the doctor, Law- 
ton, Hartman, and myself; and the other boats con- 
tained the captain and the rest of the mess, with the 
exception of a watch-officer and one of the assistant 
engineers, who were left to look out for the "old John." 
Our first leg was a long one ; and, when we arrived at 
its end and put around on the other tack, the wind 
provokingly hauled and knocked us off so much that 
it was as much as we could do to return without losing 
ground. We soon saw that sailing under the then 
circumstances was any thing but the tomtit's forte; 
and so, when we had sailed dead to leeward of the 
mouth of the river, the sail was " doused," and two of 
us took to the oars. 

We now looked with envious eye upon the cutters, 
which were well in with the river, wished that we had 
taken passage in them instead of trusting to our little 
cockle-shell, and leaned back upon our oars with the 
determination of making the best of a bad bargain. 
This we soon found to be tough work, and Hartman 
and myself, who had undertaken to pull for the first 
half-hour, were glad to accept the relief of Lawton and 
the doctor before half the time had expired. The sea, 
too, was much rougher than it seemed to be while we 
were under sail, and, instead of spray breaking over 
the weather side and wetting us partially, we now took 
in whole bucketfuls, that soon soaked us to the skin. 
"We began to wish with increased fervour that we had 
taken a seat in one of the cutters, and would, I doubt 
not, have returned to the ship had we not been afraid 
of being laughed at. 



-110 IT VOS FEAU-FUL EXCELLENT. 

In this way a couple of hours rolled by, when we finally 
gained the mouth of the river, and were glad enough to 
land on the bank and track our boat up against the 
strong ebb-tide a la canal-boat; but even this was no 
amusement, for the bank was alternately of mud and 
round stones, which made the walking very bad, and we 
could see no signs of a village. Still, we knew that it 
must be on the river somewhere, and so continued our 
pleasure-trip. Another hour passed in this mule-like 
occupation, and then we rounded a point and were grati- 
fied by seeing the cutters and a strange whale-boat 
moored to the bank a few hundred yards ahead, and the 
scattering houses of a very respectable-looking village 
looming up in their rear. We felt tired enough as we 
reached the nearest boat and secured the tomtit to her 
by the painter, and inwardly vowed never to enter upon 
another pleasure-party of discovery, though, like Hart- 
man and the rest, I expressed myself highly edified by 
the pull when the more fortunate passengers by the 
cutters asked us in regard to the "time we had had." 

"Oh! it VOS fine time!" said Hartman, in answer 
to one of their questions. "It vos fear-/w? excellent; I 
hope I always go in ze Thomas Tit;" and the rest of us 
upheld him simply to avoid being joked. 

We found the people of Armen the same exactly as 
those at Ola, only they lived in the houses in which we 
found them all the year round, instead of retreating 
back into the country as the winter came on. There was 
also living with them an aged Russian soldier, whom the 
oflS.cer of the strange whale-boat told us had been there 
ever since he had first cruised in those waters, and whom 



WE BUY TURNIPS BY THE PATCH. 411 

rumour (rumour exists even on those out-ot-the-way 
shores) proclaimed to be a perpetual exile from his native 
land. He was evidently looked up to with great respect 
by the natives, had his own comfortable log-cabin, as 
many bear-skins as would have kept a dozen men warm, 
and a table that boasted cups and saucers, plates, knives 
and forks, a broken-topped sugar-dish, &c. 

As we left our boat and climbed the muddy bank of 
the river, we were met by some half-dozen of the natives, 
who made signs to us that our friends were scattered 
about in the different houses, and that we could do no 
better than follow their example. So we trudged along 
with our "peddlers' packs" under our left arms, and a 
large bag in our right hands that was destined to hold 
"as many turnips as we could get." These latter, to our 
great delight, proved quite plentiful : we just walked into 
a patch of them, and, holding up a bottle of molasses, 
motioned the owners to mark out as large a place on the 
ground as they were willing to give for it, and then fell to 
work to transfer them, tops and all, from the ground to our 
bags in the shortest possible time. In this way we got a 
good many, for our steward had brought on shore a whole 
demijohn of molasses that we had never been able to use, 
and which had more than once been on the point of being 
thrown overboard, and it now sold at about the rate of a 
quart to a bushel of turnips, which soon filled our bags. 
They were very large, tender and juicy; and the whaler 
told us that they had been only planted about six weeks. 
I am nothing of a gardener myself, but it seemed to me 
that six weeks was a very short time for turnips to grow 
as large as pint-pots. 



412 HOW THEY KILL DUCKS. 

We found the houses at Armen of a single style, they 
being built on the ground, like the larger ones at Ola, and 
rigged out in the same style as far as the inner arrange- 
ments were concerned. Instead of fish, however, we 
here found ducks in profusion hung up overhead and 
undergoing the process of being smoked. The mate of 
the whaler, who had been so fortunate as to witness one 
of their ducking-scenes, thus described it. 

"The ducks had collected in dense flocks on a low, 
marshy piece of ground, and were feeding very quietly, 
when suddenly dozens of natives rushed in among them, 
and, striking right and left with their clubs, soon killed 
a great number and put the rest to flight." 

It seems that they were mostly only half fledged, 
and thus rendered unable to fly when hotly pursued. I 
did not witness one of these novel scenes myself; but I 
saw hundreds of smoked ducks hanging up in their 
houses, and the natives made signs that they knocked 
them down in great numbers with their sticks. "We 
traded for a number of these smoked ducks, and found 
that they made a delightful hash after the fresher ones 
were all gone. 

We found neither cattle or milk here as at Ola, although 
the settlement was evidently better ofi" as far as worldly 
goods were concerned; but we got several baskets of very 
fine whortleberries that would have filled a peck-measure 
probably, for which we gave the almost-emptied demi- 
john of molasses and a half-pound of tobacco. They 
made signs that they would like to sell us a great many 
more at the same price ; but, as they pointed to the 



MOLASSES — NOT BEANDY. 413 

hills, and as we had little time to remain, we did not 
encourage them to take a long walk for nothing. 

These people seemed slightly more advanced than 
those of Ola, as far as association with the world was con- 
cerned. They had a better idea of the value of money, 
and had learned — in a few cases — to be impudent and 
presuming. They had also picked up a few words of 
broken English from the whalers, as well as the pre- 
viously-mentioned impudence, and were evidently in the 
possession of more than one of our vices. One fellow I 
remember in particular, who, having mistaken a bottle 
of molasses, the neck of which protruded from my 
pocket, for one of brandy, beckoned me into his house, 
intimating, bywords and signs, that he had a great many 
squirrel-skins that he would like to exchange for it ; so I 
followed him, and found a house very much like that of 
the headman at Ola, only he had ducks instead of fish 
smoking overhead. 

We seated ourselves on a locker-like seat that went all 
around the hut inside of the bunks, and he immediately 
began ransacking an old chest, from which he shortly 
produced thirty or forty very inferior-looking skins, that 
were worth — judging from the price of others for which 
we had traded — probably a pint of molasses, or something 
of that sort, and which he now held up and offered me 
for the "hot branda," as he pronounced bottle of brandy. 

I took the bottle out of my pocket, and, holding it up 
before him, said, " Molasses, — not brandy," at which his 
countenance fell awfully, and he lost all relish for trading. 
As skins were getting scarce, however, and I still wanted 
some more, I took off my silk neck-handkerchief, which 



414 YOU NO dobre! 

had cost me at tlie rate of six dollars the half-dozen in l^ew 
York, and offered it to him ; but he shook his head and 
put them back in the chest, muttering, " Branda ! branda !" 

" This cost one dollar," I said, as I opened the hand- 
kerchief and showed him that it was not worn. 

Imagine my surprise — almost anger — when he turned 
sharply around and said, " You lie ! not cost dollar, — only 
shillin'. You no dobre," (you are not a good man.) I 
immediately arrived at the conclusion that he was a 
worthless fellow, unworthy of further association, and so 
rearranged my pack and continued my stroll through the 
village. 

We fell in here, as at Ola, with several veiy pretty girls. 
The men, and most of the women, as a general rule, were 
tanned ; but these girls were of a comparatively fair com- 
plexion and possessed of as rosy cheeks as one would 
wish to see. They were the most refreshing sight that we 
fell in with along those dreary shores, and, what is more, 
they stood as highi as possible in the estimation of the 
whalers for their modesty and general correctness of 
behaviour. These people all wore little crosses around 
their necks, and gave us to understand that they were 
visited once a year by their priest, who, upon these occa- 
sions, generally remain a month, to baptize the children 
and teacb them how to be good. They, as well as all the 
natives whom we fell in with in that sea, hold the faith 
of the Greek Church. 

At length the hour of departure arrived, and we took 
leave of them by shaking hands all around before getting 
into the boats. The fellow who had expressed such 
decided doubts as to my veracity, however, I treated with 



A PARTING SALUTE. 415 

"silent contempt," and was retaliated upon, as we hoisted 
the sail, by his singing out, at the top of his voice, " You 
lie ! you no dobre !" whereupon I felt very small, though 
it was I who had only told the truth, while he had been 
rjide and inhospitable. I am ashamed to say that I was 
so weak as to experience a desire to give the rascal a 
good kicking with my heavy expedition-boots. The 
breeze, which had caused us so much hard work in the 
morning, was now in our favour, and soon wafted us once 
more alongside of the " old John," when the anchor was 
at once hove up, and we continued our survey toward 
another settlement, called Tavisk or Taousk. This was 
the fourth and last settlement that we fell in with from 
the time of striking the west coast of Kamtschatka up to 
our arrival at Ayan on the east coast of Siberia. There 
were two others that we did not reach, — a small toAvn 
at the head of the Gulf of Penjinks, and the larger one 
of Okotsk, both of Avhich we were forced to pass for 
want of time. These two latter, and the four previously- 
mentioned, are the only settlements that we could hear 
of along that entire coast-line, commencing at Cape 
Lapatka, the most southern point of Kamtschatka, and 
ending at Ayan, which is within a few score miles of the 
mouth of the Amoor River. 

The long northern day was pretty well ended as we let 
go our anchor oif the mouth of the river on the banks 
of which we had been told that Taousk was located; and 
night was so close at hand that we could only tell, from 
the reflected rays of light that beamed from the river's 
winding bosom, that we had struck the right place. It 
was so late, \n fact, that we hesitated as to the propriety- 



416 A EOMANTIC UNDERTAKIKG. 

of attempting to land tliat night ; but a spirit of adven- 
ture seemed to grow among us with the darkening 
shades, and, in less than a half-hour after the anchor 
was down, two boats were in the water, and every officer 
in the ship, save myself, the purser, and an engineer, 
were seated in them, and pulling through the darkness 
to jind the mouth of a river thai they knew nothing in the 
world about, and to visit a town the very existence of 
which we only knew from hearsay. And now, as I did 
not go myself, I shall have to give the account of the 
trip as I myself heard it the next morning after their 
return. I even forget now who was the narrator : but 
these are the facts; and it is said that facts speak for 
themselves. This is the sense of what we who remained 
on board heard the next morning after the party had 
returned in company with a number of natives, two of 
whom (priests of the Greek Church) took passage in our 
boats, while the others came off in their own half-bateau, 
half-canoe-like " dug-outs." 

Shortly after leaving the ship, the night had closed 
around them so fast that they soon lost sight of both ship 
and shore ; but, as they had a compass and lantern in 
each boat, and had obtained their course before leaving 
the ship, they continued pulling steadily in the direction 
pointed out by the needle, and, taking care not to part 
company, soon came within reach of the sound of 
breakers, along which they then pulled until a dark spot 
on the beach told them that they were abreast of the 
river. They then closed in with it cautiously, and finally 
found themselves entering a swiftly-running stream 
whose mouth was whitened by the breaking surf, and 



ANY THING BUT PLEASANT AMUSEMENT. 417 

whose turbid watei-s came down to the sea with such 
violence as to drift them out more than once after they 
thought themselves securely entered. Upon one of these 
occasions they were cast upon a sand-bank just outside 
of the mouth and narrowly escaped being rolled over, 
so furiously ran the current. This was harder work 
than they had bargained for ; and, after pulling a half- 
hour or more and making very little progress, they were 
forced to land upon the beach and resort to the process 
of "tracking." 

This amusement my narrator described as being any 
thing but pleasant; for they found themselves sinking 
over the ankle in the mud at every step, or stumbling 
over loose piles of stones which the darkness hid from 
view: still, it was better than pulling with the oars all 
night against a current which they could hardly stem, 
and so they hung to it with the determination of neces- 
sity, and were in the end rewarded by arriving at a 
village on the left bank, which they rightly concluded 
to be Taousk. There they were received by the barking 
of dogs, the bellowing of cattle, and, finally, by a score 
of natives, who, after they had been convinced that they 
were not a detachment of the Allies bent npon burning 
their town, received them very kindly, and conducted 
them to the house of the priest, who, it "seems, was the 
"headman" in temporal as well as spiritual affairs. 

By this personage they were received more kindly 
than ever. He got them up a glorious supper of milk, 
butter, brown bread, cold duck, solidifi.ed reindeer-milk, 
&c., .and, after that was over, drank a half-bottle of 
French punch, which the doctor or Carnes had pre- 



418 HOSPITALITY OP TAOUSK. 

sented him with, and, pointing to various piles of bear- 
skins on which they were to pass the night, retired with 
his half-empty bottle to seek his own repose. Our fel- 
lows found the skins any thing but uncomfortable quar- 
ters. They were, unlike those we had previously seen, 
very clean and sweet-smelling; and they slept soundly 
upon and under them until daylight, when they were 
aroused by the furious barking of apparently hundreds 
of dogs, who they subsequently learned had been alarmed 
by the proximity of a bear or other wild animal. 

Taousk was the largest and most important settlement 
we had yet fallen in with. Its houses were strongly 
built and very comfortable: they had board floorings, 
tables, chairs, and windows, and a population of nearly 
two hundred. Beef was far from scarce ; but, unfor- 
tunately, we did not take the time to get any on board : 
we expected soon to be at another place, called Ayan, 
where it was said to be plentiful. 

Our party had an early breakfast, during the discus- 
sion of which the priest congratulated them upon their 
safe ascent of the river, giving them to understand that 
more than one whale-boat had been swamped in a similar 
attempt, and intimating that they had made a narrow 
escape from the sand-bank. After breakfast they walked 
among the scattering houses for some time, traded with 
the natives for some milk and a few bear-skins, and 
finally returned on board with the priest and his native 
assistant. 

They were accompanied by some of the natives in a 
large canoe, in which the whole party returned after 
having been shown around the ship and regaled upon 



VARIOUS WAYS OF CROSSING A FORD. 419 

salt beef and pork, sour wheat-bread, and an abundant 
supply of fine strong cofifee. This latter seemed more 
grateful to them than any thing else; and, as we stiil 
had a fair amount on hand, we gave the priest several 
pounds to remember us by. He was almost as delighted 
as the headman of the coal-mine had been when promised 
his cap full of powder. The people of Taousk were 
similar to those of Armen and Ola, with probably a 
little more of Ee-a-coute blood in their veins. The priest 
himself was a Russian, and seemed to possess great 
control over them. 

We had no sooner seen our guests safely started for 
the shore than the anchor was again weighed and the 
survey continued. We were now gradually working 
our way to the southward, stopping every few days to 
fill up with drift-wood from the beach, and meeting 
with adventures without number. I will relate two of 
these by way of varying the narrative, but, before com- 
mencing, must indulge in a few remarks in regard to 
several ways of fording a river. 

There is more than one mode of crossing a ford. One 
may accomplish the feat with great dignity on a sure- 
footed horse ; or he may wade quietly from one bank to 
the other; and then again he may, like the mountain-goat, 
" leap from rock to rock, to the imminent terror of all 
beholders." But there is yet another mode, — an im- 
promptu one, if I may so express myself, — which is 
characterized by any thing but dignity, and which taxes 
a man with unpleasant suddenness to the utmost extent 
of his resources, both mental and physical. I allude to 
the only mode which one finds at his disposal when. 



420 WHICH IS THE MOST DESIRABLE? 

having waded to about the centre of a boiling rapid, 
he all at once feels his legs swept from under him and 
himself floundering in the turbid stream, carried furi- 
ously upon its uneven breast between and over jagged 
rocks, and possessed of a confused idea that he must 
get to one bank or the other before he is thrown, bruised 
and insensible, into the dark foaming pool which gene- 
rally terminates such affairs. He has but one convic- 
tion — one point — to strive for: he must either reach 
the most attainable bank before he is cast against some 
rock and disabled, or he must be cast against that rock 
and subsequently drifted into the whirling pool with 
broken ribs or limbs, and a disagreeably-slim chance 
of being able to swim with those that are left sound. 

I now found myself in a position such as this, and it 
happened after this manner. 

The "old John," being still afloat, had managed to 
carry us into a half-sheltered bay, where she let go her 
anchor, and despatched her boats and crew to the beach 
to cut and bring on board a supply of drift-wood, to be 
used instead of coal, as this latter article was running 
quite short. 

There being a certainty of the entire day being con- 
sumed in this way, several of us took our guns and struck 
back into the country in search of a flock of broad-billed 
ducks that the doctor had discovered near the beach, and 
which he had driven to a distant lagoon by shooting off 
the heads of two of their number with his small-bore 
Kentucky rifle. Always on the alert when there was 
game within reach, this indefatigable sportsman had 
landed in the first boat, shot off two heads, and returned 



OUR DUCKING-GROUND. 421 

on board for a double-barrelled gun, before the rest of us 
had made up our minds that we would hunt at all. His 
unexpected return, however, with a brace of brilliantly- 
feathered drakes, caused us to shoulder our fowling- 
pieces, crowd some ham and bread into our pockets, 
and accompany him in his search for their scattered 
companions. Old bust-proof and his master were again 
"in clover." 

We landed on a quiet beach of heavy shingle, climbed 
up it through the piles of driftwood, and from its sunlmit 
looked over a vast marsh-like plain, spotted here and 
there with elevations and scattering lagoons, and cut up 
by a perfect network of winding streams, which, spring- 
ing from the melting snows of the back-mountains, 
worked their numerous paths toward the bay, joining 
each other in their progress until they finally got up 
quite a respectable river, that emptied its turbid volume 
through the rise of the beach into the clear waters of the 
calm and motionless bay. 

ISTo sooner had we reached our elevation of some thirty 
feet above the sea, than the doctor pointed out the direc- 
tion which the ducks had taken, and each one started by 
a different path to hunt them up. The tide was ebbing 
at the time, and we therefore penetrated the muddy ex- 
panse without fear; moreover, many of the hillocks were 
high enough to afford a place of retreat should it return 
upon us unawares, and so we waded the various streams 
and lagoons, as we left the beach behind us, without a 
thought. Hours were passed in this way without my 
crossing the sign of a duck, and I had returned to within a 
few hundred yards of the wooding-party, when, from the 



422 A FOOLISH UNDERTAKINa. 

top of a more elevated mound, I caught sight of a flock 
swimming lazily on the bosom of a lagoon, distant some 
three hundred yards and apparently of quite easy approach. 

True, the river was between us, but then it did not look 
much larger than one I had just waded, and I did not 
even stop to reflect that it might be too deep and rapid to 
admit of fording. Moreover, I saw the captain's Ethi- 
opian steward "making a straight wake" for the lagoon; 
and, as he was considerably in advance of me, I had to 
cross at once or let him have the first shot. As I say, I 
did not stop to think, but went down the slope at a trot 
and boldly entered upon the trial. I struck the stream 
at a point where a rocky ford, apparently knee-deep, 
promised a safe crossing, while both above and below 
the water was apparently quite deep. This ford was 
about a hundred yards in length by twenty or thirty in 
width, was an inclined plane of loose pebbles and firmly- 
embedded and jagged rocks, and altogether a most un- 
pleasant-looking locality after I had advanced too far to re- 
treat. The rushing water boiled and foamed among the 
jagged rocks with a force that made me feel quite un- 
steady over my five-pound expedition-boots, and caused 
me, for the first time, to think of retracing my steps. I 
came to a halt, concluded it was deeper ahead, if any 
thing, and felt that, if I could only turn without being 
tripped up, it would be the best course to go back. 

I had a heavy ship's musket on my shoulder, and knew 
that, if I braced it against the bottom to support me in 
turning, I should lose just twelve pounds of my weight, 
and thus render it much easier for the knee-deep water 
to sweep my feet from under me; still, I could not turn 



I DELIGHT IN AN UPRIGHT ATTITUDE. 423 

without support of some kind, aud began to hunt up 
a means of increasing my weight. A most ingenious 
device soon crossed my mind, but unfortunately it was 
purely theoretical : — could I only fill my pockets and hat 
with the loose pebbles that were working under my feet, 
I might increase my weight sufficently to enable me to 
dispense with that of the musket; but, upon stooping 
carefully down to feel for these loose stones, I was con- 
vinced of its impracticability, narrowly escaping losing 
my foothold, and was glad to regain an upright attitude. 

I began to look anxiously around and wonder if I was 
destined to have my ribs broken against those jagged 
rocks, or if there was a possibility of my being able to 
steer clear of them should I cast myself with the rush- 
ing current and trust to swimming on shore after being 
swept into the revolving waters of the lower pool. Then 
again I thought it might be better to hold my ground as 
long as possible, until I could attract the attention of 
some one ; and to this end I strained my lungs to their 
utmost, hoping that the previously-mentioned Ethiopian 
would hear me and be induced to attempt a rescue. In 
this I was fortunately successful; but the jar of the exer- 
tion nearly cost me another loss of footing, and the Ethi- 
opian, instead of advancing to my assistance, quietly 
folded his hands over the muzzle of his gun and re- 
garded my position with great apparent complacency. 
In the mean time the pebbly bottom was gradually work- 
ing from under my feet. I began to feel uncomfortably 
light, aud, finding that I should certainly be swept away 
in a few more seconds, determined to exert myself in 
some way while it remained optional. I therefore can- 



424 A CONTEMPLATIVE ETHIOPIAN. 

tiously turned my ransket muzzle down, planted it firmly 
against tlie edge of a sunken rock just below me, and, 
with that as a support, commenced to get myself pointed 
in the opposite direction. 

It was only a commencement. ISTo sooner did I expose 
the surface of both boot-tops to the furious current than 
I came down face first, was drifted barrel-like over the 
sunken rock, then over another, and, altogether, jerked 
about in a most confusing manner. It seemed as if my 
arms, legs, and head were being swept about in all direc- 
tions at once; and I need scarcely remark that at this 
period of the action I let the musket look out for itself. 
How I ever reached the opposite shore is, and ever will be, 
to me a mystery. I remember, as I fell, feeling nerved 
by the conviction that I was in great danger, and that 
presence of mind and powerful exertion were all that I 
could depend upon ; and I remember also determining, as 
I felt myself rolled with bruising violence over the first 
rock, to strike out for the opposite shore at an angle of 
forty-five degrees with the current, as the most apparent 
means of safety. But this, combined with a vast amount 
of floundering, sharp pains, and confusion of ideas, is all 
that I do remember, until I found myself crawling with 
painful exhaustion up the rocky beach some eighty yards 
below the point from which I had started. I looked in 
the direction of the contemplative Ethiopian, who no 
sooner saw me lying exhausted upon the bank than he 
seemed suddenly awakened to the conviction that some- 
thing had happened, and that he had better make it 
known. So he hurriedly fired off his gun, shouted at the 
top of his voice that Mr. Habersham was drowning, and 







f%. 



Vi$ 



. .iHiiiiJI 






BRANDY AND A WARM BED POR A BAD SCARE. 425 

then actually rau away from me as fast as his legs could 
carry him. Slowly I recovered my breath, more slowly 
still my strength, until finally I felt able to examine for 
injuries. Singular as the assertion may seem, I had 
escaped with a few quite severe bruises, a sprained wrist, 
and a good ducking; and, the captain soon arriving in a 
boat, I was taken on . board, dosed with brandy, and 
covered up warmly in bed. For the next few days I was 
quite contented to remain quietly on board ; but a week 
later I was induced to join in a bear-hunt, which resulted 
in great danger to three of the mess. I never tried the 
depth of another Siberian ford, however. This "bear- 
hunt" is the second adventure of which I spoke. As it 
will be a rather lengthy account, I will put it at the head 
of the twenty-second chapter. 



CHAPTER XXn. 

WE ■WAYLAY A SIBEKIAN BEAE AND NABROWLY ESCAPE "CATCHING A TAK- 
TAE.;" AFTER WHICH WE ENGAGE IN A STAMPEDE, CLIMB A VERY STEEP 
HILL, AND THEN DESCEND AGAIN TO OUR BOAT. 

A WEEK had passed since tlie adventure recorded in 
tlie last chapter, and we were again at anchor in a half- 
sheltered bay. It was evening, and the past day had 
been devoted to loading our decks with a fresh supply of 
drift-wood and to filling our water-tanks ; and, now that 
we had as much on board as we could stow, and it was 
near sunset, we concluded to remain at anchor that night 
and make an early start the next morning. 

Immediately after dinner, and while the majority of 
us were at work, the doctor, Lawton, and "Williams had 
taken advantage of our being at anchor to embark in 
the tomtit with their guns and the determination to 
employ the remnant of the day in a stroll through the 
woods after some wandering bear. They had often in- 
dulged in similar strolls without having the fortune to 
meet with the object of their search, and now vowed 
that they would not return this time without some well- 
riddled bruin as their travelling-companion. And now, 
as the day's work was over and the western sun dropped 
slowly behind the uneven range of the surrounding 
mountains, the tomtit was observed about half-way 

between us and the southern shore of the bay, returning 
426 



WE ARE SHOWN AN IMMENSE BEAR. 427 

at a rate whose extreme tardiness indicated any thing 
but a "glorious day's sport" as having been enjoyed 
by her Mmrod rowers. 

Several of us were leaning over the quarter-deck rail, 
commenting upon their probable disappointment and 
disgust, when the quartermaster of the watch directed 
our attention to an immense bear, who, he said, had just 
appeared upon the beach from the thick undergrowth 
which almost hid the mouth of the river, our late water- 
ing-place. We looked in the direction indicated and 
saw a huge mass, of a black colour, whose well-defined 
outlines moved slowly toward the water's edge. There 
was no mistaking it for any thing hut a bear as it picked 
its lumbering way through the heavy sand and scattered 
rocks along the rippling beach, toward the southern 
point of the bay. He was at least a mile, probably more, 
from us, and yet his huge dimensions and every motion 
could be seen as plainly as if he had been within gun- 
shot. We thought how large he must be to show so 
plainly at such a distance, and longed to cross his path 
with our rifles and revolvers. 

He was evidently taking his time to go wherever he 
was bound, for he walked along quite slowly, stopping 
every now and then with his head to the ground as if 
smelling or eating something, and then continuing along 
as before. We looked toward the bright path which had 
been left by the setting sun and wondered if its refracted 
rays would last us another half-hour, or if we would be 
likely to reach the beach just as it got too dark to shoot, 
and thus have a long pull for nothing. We wondered 
all this with excited voices, and, while wondering, cast 



428 "OH, THE mischief!" 

our eyes in the direction of the tomtit, whose sharp- 
sighted occupants had evidently been as wide awake as 
the old quartermaster. "We could see them lying on 
their oars and apparently consulting as to the rationality 
of returning to the beach and awaiting his arrival either 
from the boat or ambush behind some log or rock ; and 
in a few moments the boat's head was pulled quickly 
around for the beach by Lawton and Williams, while the 
doctor, with a tiller-rope in each hand, leaned eagerly 
forward with every stroke. 

"By George! — there they go back after him!" ex- 
claimed an excited voice. 

"Let's call away the Falcon" (our fastest boat) "and 
lend them a hand," cried a second. 

" The crew have been worked hard to-day, gentlemen," 
remarked the first lieutenant; "and if you want the 
Falcon you must pull her yourselves." 

" Oh, the mischief!" exclaimed excited voice "No. 1. 

"I've been working hard too," chimed in 'No. 2. 

"Well, gentlemen," interrupted the captain, who was as 
ready for the fun as any of us, " call away the gig and 
get your rifles : she's handier than the Falcon. Come ! 
let's see if we can't get a bear at last !" 

In less than two minutes we were all seated in the 
crowded stern-sheets of the flying boat, with the eager 
crew bending to their supple oars and urging her head- 
long course toward the unsuspecting monster. There 
were, five of us in the boat besides the crew, all armed 
with Sharpe's rifles and revolvers, — some even with 
bowie-knives, — while the crew themselves each had a 
carbine, ship's pistol, and cutlass, — eleven grown-up 



A MOST DISAGREEABLE RESULT. 429 

men, armed to the teeth, and in hot pursuit of a lazj old 
bear, who continued his lounging way along the beach 
without the least indication of consciousness or fear of 
danger. It was exciting in the extreme to every one but 
him. 

Five minutes rolled by in this way, and then we saw 
the tomtit reach the beach some half-mile below the 
bear, when the three hunters hastily landed, hauled her 
up well clear of the water and concealed themselves 
behind a huge boulder of granite which was distant some 
twenty feet from the water and about the same distance 
from the edge of the hill-side bushes. It was, in fact, 
situated exactly in the centre of the beach at low-water, 
and the trunk of a fallen tree that had rolled down from 
the hill-side connected it with said hill-side bushes. Had 
they had both time and material at their command, it 
would have been impossible to have constructed a more 
admirable place of ambush. 

This was all very favourable; but there was one con- 
sideration which acted as a powerful drawback to their 
hopes : they had but one round of ammunition each, 
(all this we learned subsequently,) and neither knife or 
revolver in the party. What if it should come to a hand- 
to-hand struggle ? JSTevertheless, they shut their eyes to 
such a disagreeable result and entered boldly upon the 
desperate game of waylaying a ferocious animal whose 
weight was certainly not less than sixteen hundred 
pounds, and whose kind — like the grizzly of our own 
"Western mountains — had often been known to hug a man 
or horse to death after receiving a dozen wounds any 
one of which would have disabled an ordinary animal. 



430 DO NOT GET EXCITED. 

It was, indeed, a risky game to be entered into under tlie 
circumstances. 

After thus stowing themselves in ambush, getting good 
rests for their guns, and determining exactly how far they 
were to let the bear come before firing, they began for 
the first time to calculate the chances that were against 
them, and to feel doubtful, even amidst their nervous ex- 
citement, as to the result. The doctor, who was renowned 
for shooting ofi^ the heads of geese and ducks at marvel- 
lously-long distances, may be supposed to have felt perfect 
confidence as to the effect of his "only ball;" but then he 
had not now his long Kentucky rifle, and was far from 
certain that he should shoot with his usual closeness 
with the heavy ship's musket that had been kicking his 
shoulder out of joint for the last few hours. 

As he was, however, the most reliable shot, in spite of 
the absence of his favourite gun, it was determined that 
he should fire first, while Lawton, who was armed with a 
rhinoceros rifle of immense bore, was to aim at his heart 
and fire as soon after as possible. Lastly, Williams, who 
was armed with a double-barrelled shot-gun loaded with 
ball, was cautioned more than once to shoot right for 
the centre of his fore-shoulder, — a Utile abaft if any thing, 
— and to pay particular regard to the state of his own 
nerves, — i.e. not to get excited and be led into the danger- 
ous error of shooting over his back. 

"Now, mind what you are about," said the wary doctor : 
"J may miss with this old musket, and if you two follow 
my example we are certain to be hugged to death. You 
remember what the old priest at Taousk told us about 
these fellows? Confound it!" he exclaimed, as he cast 



"no running IP HE CLOSES WITH US." 431 

his eye in our direction and saw that we were pulling 
hurriedly toward the bear, — " confound it ! There's a boat 
pulling right up for the bear: they'll drive him back into 
the woods. Did you ever see any thing so provoking?" 

"I wonder people haven't got more sense!" muttered 
Lawton, in an angry whisper. " They must know that 
we are here waiting for him, and yet they run that chance 
of driving him to the bush, I wish she'd run aground. 
Miserable foolishness!" 

"Remember what we agreed about 'standing by' each 
other here," said Williams: "there's to be no running if 
he closes with us ; J couldn't keep up." The doctor and 
Lawton laughed, in spite of their chagrin at our approach ; 
and then ensued an interval of silence, followed by dis- 
connected remarks as to the approaching crisis. 

Bruin was now getting close enough to cause them to 
lower their voices to a whisper. He was about two or 
three hundred yards off, lumbering along about as fast as 
a man would ordinarily walk, and apparently unconscious 
of either ambush or boat. The doctor, therefore, with 
his usual wariness, cautioned them to silence. 

"Hush! hush!" he whispered. "He is close enough 
now to hear. Fortunately the wind is coming from him 
to us and his nose will be of no use to him. If we can 
only keep out of his sight and hold our tongues, he will 
come right upon us before he suspects any thing. We 
will let him get as far as that bunch of grass before we 
fire, and then we can make a sure thing of it." He 
pointed with his pale but steady finger to a clump of 
jiried sea-weed which the ebbing tide had left just eleven 
feet from the place of ambush, drew a long breath to 



432 THRILLING MOMENTS TO THE NIMRODS. 

relieve a nervous feeling of morbid hungriness that had 
lately attacked him, and examined the musket's cap with 
a doubting eye. 

And novi^ to return to our boat. There was no occa- 
sion now for the usual order of "Give way, boys!" the 
long sweeping oars of mountain-ash worked with the 
beautiful regularity of a steam-engine, under the bent 
backs and swelling muscles of the long-tried and excited 
oarsmen, and seemed to cast the boat at least her length 
ahead with every stroke. We were beginning to close in 
with the beach pretty well; and, just as we had succeeded 
in getting the bear between us and the shore-party, he 
seemed to discover us for the first time. Our gliding 
approach, however, did not apparently disturb him; he 
only turned a lazy glance toward us, snufied the tainted 
air, and continued his lounging gait toward the very 
clump of sea-weed which the sound judgment of the 
Kentucky hunter had imagined he would approach in 
search of some fated shell-fish or other object of food. 
We saw that the crisis was fast approaching, and we were 
yet some three hundred yards from the beach: would 
that he might find some unfortunate crab to arrest his 
lazy progress until we could give a' few more strokes and 
reach the shore ! 

To the ambushed hunters these were moments of thrill- 
ing excitement. They could not remain positively out 
of his sight without he being also out of their sight, and, 
notwithstanding his immense bulk and weight, he moved 
along the sandy beach with such a noiseless tread that 
they could not judge, from the sound of his steps, whether 
he continued his approach, or whether he had taken to 



AN UNBEARABLE STATE OF SIJ^PENSE. 433 

the bushes from the noise of our oars. This state of sus- 
pense at length became so unbearable that the doctor 
determined to steal a cautious glance at him over the top 
of the boulder, and in the execution of this he was so 
fortunate as to get a good view and recover his hiding- 
place without being seen by Bruin. The feat was success- 
fully accomplished; but he has often expressed regret at 
having undertaken it, simply from the fact that the 
unexpected size and ferocious look of the monster, com- 
bined with the startling accounts we had all heard of his 
desperate mode of fighting, and their own total want of 
defensive arms, so troubled his ordinarily-steady nerves 
that he felt he should have fired with a truer eye and 
more steady aim had he avoided looking at him until the 
moment arrived to do so along the barrel of his musket. 

His description of his savage appearance, as observed 
while he was thus evidently unconscious of the presence 
of danger, was vivid in the extreme. 

"When I lifted my eye over the boulder," he said, "I 
expected to see him at a distance of at least fifty yards 
up the beach, and to find him of a reasonable size. Ima- 
gine my surprise, therefore, — indeed, my alarm, — to find 
him almost under our noses and exceeding in size the 
largest of oxen. I must confess that I longed at that 
moment for one of two things, — either to feel my knife 
and revolver in my belt, or myself safely on shipboard. 
In fact, I think the latter feeling was a little the strongest 
if any thing. Of course my survey was a hurried one : 
still, I saw more than enough to increase my fears as to 
the result. See here what it was that I saw. 

"His head, though quite large, was small when com- 

28 



434 WHAT THE DOCTOR SEES. 

pared with his huge fore-shoulders, of a jet-black hue, 
and covered with a growth of short, sleek hair that 
shone as if he had just dipped it into a barrel of grease. 
The rest of his body was covered with long and thick 
wool, rather brownish along the backbone, but as black 
as his head everywhere else. His fore-legs were of an 
awful size, his height from four to five feet, and his 
length of body and limb absolutely horrifying. I calcu- 
lated at the time that he could not have weighed less 
than fifteen hundred pounds, — possibly more ; and, as I 
imagined myself borne down by that weight, I shud- 
dered. 

"As he still continued his approach he threw out his 
fore-legs with a sweeping motion, and swung his appa- 
rently-unwieldy frame something after the fashion of an 
over-handed swimmer ; and the tracks that he thus left 
looked deep enough to contain a gallon-measure. A dense 
swarm of gigantic mosquitos hovered around his head 
and seemed to cause him no inconsiderable annoyance 
in that particular locality ; and I could not help thinking 
what good judgment they evinced in the selection of 
their point of attack, as they might have worked a day 
through the thick wool which protected the rest of his 
body without reaching his skin. As he moved along 
with his slow and measured pace, his general appearance 
was prominently indicative of two things — unbounded 
strength, and a latent ferocity of disposition which pro- 
mised an unyielding foe,, I looked at him and trembled ; 
and, as the above all flashed quickly through my brain, I 
drew a long breath, and felt that a moment was drawing 
near when courage and thought must combine with 



IT SEEMS AS IF MINUTES ARE HOURS. 435 

inferior muscle to equalize tlie pending struggle. B}-- 
a violent effort I retained my self-possession, sunk 
quietly into my ambush, and, with firmly-set teeth and 
pointed musket, awaited his appearance beyond the outer 
edge of the rock. 

" Lawton and Williams had, in the mean time, gazed 
anxiously in my face, there to read information which 
could not now be imparted by words ; and, as they ob- 
served its expression of almost alarmed excitement, they 
became a shade paler, and grasped their guns with com- 
pressed lips and flashing eyes as they bent their steady 
gaze toward the clump of sea-weed. i 

"It seemed as if minutes had become hours as we thus 
awaited his appearance. 

"We could hear the sounding beats of each others' 
hearts, and the hurried dip of your boat's oars, which, 
now that the end was at hand, we hailed as a promise of 
rescue should the probable struggle result from a mis- 
directed ball or the bear's well-known tenacity of life. 

" Slowly the moments dragged by: plainer became the 
sound of your oars : we could even hear the noise of the 
broken water under your rushing bow, when * * * * 

" The deafening report of Lawton's heavy-bored rhino- 
ceros rifle at my very ear caused me to spring to my feet 
and glance hurriedly around with a confused idea that 
concealment was no longer our forte, and that the time 
had at length come when muscle, coolness, and deter- 
mination were the only reserves for us to fall back upon. 
The game was now evidently under way, and nothing 
but steady nerves and desperate fighting was to save us. 

"Lawton had taken me by surprise when he fired ; for 



436 A DEADLY WOUND. 

I was unfortunately so close to the rock that a small pro- , 
jection of its right side completely concealed the bear 
from my view, while his whole fore-shoulders and head 
were exposed to the others. In fact, he saw the others 
before I saw him; and it was a sudden demonstration of 
flight on his part that had caused the unexpected dis- 
charge. 

"I sprang to my feet with ringing ears, and looked 
anxiously over the boulder, which was now between the 
bear and myself. The sight which met my eyes was 
thrilling to behold 

" He was standing upright upon his hind-legs, hugging 
the air at random with frantic rage and fright, throwing 
his expanded jaws right and left with nervous jerks, 
writhing with strange pain, and growling with the 
strength of distant thunder. The heavy ball of the 
rhinoceros rifle had passed clean through his body in 
the region of the heart, and from the torn wounds thus 
created the red blood spouted with every agonized con- 
tortion. Its crimson hue indicated a vital source, and, as I 
gazed upon the spasmodic jets of the arterial stream, I 
felt that the day was ours. Slowly, and with deliberate 
movement, I pointed the musket between his very eyes 
while he was not more than ten feet from the muzzle. 
He was just about to close with us ; but the ounce-ball 
stopped his spring. I imagined I could hear it as it 
crushed its resistless path through the hardened skull; 
but in this I was probably mistaken, as he could never 
have acted as he did subsequently with such a weight of 
lead in his brain. It doubtless glanced from the un- 
yielding bone after cracking it and bringing him down 



WE GAZE THROUGH THE GATHERING GLOOM. 437 

as you saw him fall. Wasn't it done beautifully? Didn't 
lie howl awfully?" 

And now let me remember what we saw from the 
approaching boat. "We saw the top of the medical head 
through the gloom of approaching night, as its owner 
took his cautious peep over the boulder, and expected to 
see the flash of his musket as the immediate consequence ; 
but, to our joy, he as suddenly dipped out of sight again, 
while Bruin still continued his lazy way. We knew now 
that they had determined to let him get under their very 
noses before firing, and as the boat flew toward the scene 
we watched with straining eyes for the expected flashes. 

The shades of evening were now being darkened by the 
near approach of night, but there was still a fair prospect 
of sufficient light to see us through the affair. It was 
just dark enough to let one see both the flash and smoke 
of a discharged piece, and to enable the huntsman to take 
a deadly aim without the drawback of a distracting ray. 
We gazed with straining eyes through this gathering 
gloom, as the crew swung with unfailing muscle to the 
bending oars. 

Suddenly those straining eyes encountered two beautiful 
sights, while, in the same instant almost, our ears were 
saluted by the sharp report of a discharged rifle. 

In the first place, we saw its sudden and lurid fiash, 
and in the second, the frightened action of the stricken 
bear. Even before the report reached us, — in fact, simul- 
taneously with the explosion of the lurid flame within 
ten feet of his lowered head, — he sprang, frantically into 
the smoky air, came heavily down upon his powerful 
hind-legs, and in that upright position beat the air wildly 



438 LOOKING SEVEN WAYS FOR SUNDAY. 

with his sweeping paws, while, with expanded jaws, he 
shook his pointed head with mingled pain, rage, and 
fright. At that moment he offered the most perfect idea 
of the old expression — " looking seven ways for Sunday" 
— that one could imagine, and its vivid application to his 
painful contortions forced itself upon my mind even in 
that moment of wild excitement. 

'■'■Give way, boys! Drive her ahead!" exclaimed the 
eager voice of the captain, as with pale cheek and nervous 
hand he steered the trembling boat clear of the pointed 
rocks which began to cross our foaming path as we 
neared the beach. '■^Give her headway! A dozen more 
strokes and we are there." 

"Oh, horror!" exclaimed a tremulous voice from the 
bow. " But this is frightful ! The bear will fight ! See 
how he settles his gaze upon the doctor and gathers 
himself for a spring! He will take them all with one 
sweep of a single paw. And we — we are too laieV The 
speaker raised himself with a gesture as full of emotion 
as his voice, and leaned eagerly forward over the boiling 
water that curled under our stern. 

The large veins swelled almost to bursting on the 
dripping brows of the labouring crew, and the tough 
oars bent like whalebone under their frightened strength. 
The doctor had nursed kindly weak men who were strong 
men now, and the power of long-cherished gratitude 
combined with bone and sinew to drive the boat ahead 
and rescue his threatened life. It was not in every oar 
of ash" to resist those hardened muscles that swelled thus 
with gratitude and excitement-: something must fail, for 
the yielding oars can yield no more. Suddenly there 



ANOTHER DEADLY WOUND. 439 

came a crash : one of them has broken ; and, as its now 
useless loom was swung heavily into the air by its baffled 
owner, he gave vent to a deep and hasty imprecation and 
ground his clenched teeth in bitter disappointment. Still, 
on we go: there are four more left, and only a few more 
yards to pass. The power of that failing oar seems to 
have been absorbed by the remaining four, for our speed 
is apparently unchanged. 

Shortly we saw another lurid flame flash through the 
deepening gloom, as the doctor's bent head bent still 
lower upon the levelled barrel, and at the same instant 
the full report of a heavily-loaded musket broke upon 
our ear. It took no time to reach us now; we were 
within thirty yards of the thrilling scene which was 
apparently but just commencing, and frames that trem- 
bled with excited emotion stood upright in the boat, 
ready to rush into the unequal struggle as soon as her 
bow should touch the longed-for beach. 

This last shot was a magnificent triumph of the sure 
eye and steady arm which guided it. The bear, having 
caught sight of his foe behind the boulder, had suddenly 
settled upon his haunches, and, with expanded mouth 
and open arms, commenced a spring which would, in all 
probability, have landed him in their very midst. But a 
merciful Power arrested him on its verge : the heavy 
ounce-ball struck him full in the head, glanced from the 
unyielding but cracking skull, and brought him down 
like a felled ox. He came down head first into the soft 
sand with a jar that seemed to shake the very beach, 
clasped his wounded forehead with both paws, and rolled 
his shining head to and fro with a rapid and agonized 



440 PALE FACES AND CLUBBED GUNS. 

motion. "We could liear his deep-toned growl and 
laboured breathing as he scattered the loose stones and 
sand in all directions, seemingly intent on burrowing 
a den in which to shelter himself from his relentless 
enemies. 

A round of loud and enthusiastic cheers broke from 
our party as he thus came down with a shock that 
in itself would have been enough to break the neck of 
any ordinary animal, and more than one tremulous 
arm pointed a Sharpe's rifle toward the fallen monster. 

"Don't fire!" exclaimed a voice whose owner was 
evidently more collected than the rest of us. " He is 
done for, or "Williams would draw on him with his 
double-barrel. Another cheer for the victory." 

We cheered with even more spirit than at first, and 
the ravined hills spread its notes far and wide upon the 
motionless air. 

It was a most unfortunate demonstration, and thej- 
were miserable ravines to lend their aid to our more 
miserable rejoicing. Bruin reared his bleeding front as 
the strange and unknown sounds broke upon his dead- 
ened ear, and, glaring around with flaming and blood- 
stained eyes, seemed to regain from them a portion of his 
paralyzed strength as he staggered toward the boulder, 
behind which our three friends retreated before his 
tlireatening approach. It was then an awful sight, as it 
is now a thrilling recollection, — the doctor and Lawton, 
with their pale faces, well-braced limbs, and clubbed 
guns ; Williams, with his flushed cheek, bent knee, and 
levelled double-barrel. 



A STATE OF WILD CONFUSION. 441 

Kow, Williams, a steady eye ! Life and death hang 
upon those two last shots. Aim close ! Now or never! 
We watched for the expected flash which was again to 
arrest his progress, and heard the snap of a failing cap. 

A cry of anguished despair arose from our midst as 
the staggering monster shook his bleeding head and 
reeled heavily onward with returning powers to close 
with his foe. We leaned eagerly forward with a tumul- 
tuous feeling of excitement boiling in our breasts and 
clouding the vision with a species of vertigo. Another 
false cap ! — another hope gone, — their last ! 

Suddenly our attention is called to our own safety. A 
sudden jar, a crash of splintering oak, a long grating 
sound, and the boat's bow is high and dry out of the 
water, her progress stopped. 

H^ ^ ^ H^ sK ^ 5): 

We saw no more for the next few seconds. A sunken 
rock had crossed our path, and the boat, urged by her 
tremendous velocity, had run upon it high and dry. We 
were thrown in every possible direction, — some over- 
board, others along the thwarts, others piled in a pro- 
miscuous heap in the forward part of the stern-sheets. 
As for myself, I went overboard head first, but, by catch- 
ing the gunwale of the boat with my left hand, brought 
up with only one leg in the water, and enough presence 
of mind to feel with my foot for bottom, holding my 
rifle well clear of tl^e water at the same time. 

I found it only knee-deep ; and, as we were now not 
more than a boat's-length from the beach, a general rush 
was made for it as soon as people had recovered their 
legs and the depth of water became known. 



442 AN OLD-PASHIONED STAMPEDE. 

I never before engaged in such a scrambling race, — 
througb the knee-deep water, into boles tbat were waist- 
deep, tumbling over sunken rocks, and all tbe while the 
utmost noise and confusion prevailing. 

As we thus regained the use of our eyes, legs, and 
voices, the bear seemed suddenly seized with fear. He 
turned short in his advance upon the desperate group 
that awaited his attack with uplifted guns, and urged his 
confused and staggering flight toward the sheltering 
brushwood of the precipitous hill-side. 

Whether he shrank before the blazing eye of man's 
angry intellect at bay, or fled from the confused and un- 
usual uproar which we created in his rear, it is hard to 
say. Certain it is, however, that he did fly, and, as he 
turned, we saw the no-longer-expected flash of Williams's 
faithless gun and heard the whistle of its misdirected 
ball. Another flash from his remaining barrel, another 
whistle of its uncertain messenger, and all hope of stop- 
ping the bear's flight was gone. Their ammunition was 
all expended, and we could not use ours from the asto- 
nishing fact that Lawton and Bruin were now exactly in 
line. This excited huntsman no sooner saw that Wil- 
liams's balls had passed the retreating bear without dis- 
turbing a hair than he threw down his gun and hat and 
started in hot pursuit. Instead, therefore, of our party 
being able to stop and fire a grand volley, we were forced 
to join in the pursuit or let him and^ruin have it all to 
themselves. A general stampede, therefore, ensued, and 
such a stampede I never engaged in before. Bruin had 
evidently given up all idea of fighting, and was devoting 
his waning strength to secure his safety by flight ; and, 



THE TRIAL OF SPEED. 443 

as he urged his laboured and painful retreat through the 
heavy sand and between fallen trees and projecting rocks, 
we pressed after him in the vain hope that he would out- 
strip his reckless pursuer sufficiently to let us fire with- 
out the risk of hitting the wrong object. But our ex- 
ertions were of no avail. Lawton ran well, and was 
evidently gaining ground instead of losing. Nevertheless, 
Bruin, having considerably the start, reached the edge of 
the hill-side bushes-, in which he disappeared for a moment, 
and then again broke upon the view, as, with out-hanging 
tongue, quick breathing, and laborious movement, he 
dragged his wounded body up the steep and broken hill- 
side. 

He was now considerably above Lawton, and a few 
unsteady shots were fired over the latter's head, but with 
no apparent efiect : the stampede had evidently unsettled 
our nerves. The flurried figure of the pursuer now in 
turn disappeared in the brushwood, and a moment later 
we saw him climbing with frantic strides in the very 
wake of the struggling and disabled monster. He was 
evidently gaining on him, too, and we expected every 
moment to see him turn and hug him in his crushing 
embrace. 

At this stage of the proceedings I found myself and 
several others bursting our difficult paths through the 
tangled brushwood, and urging each other ahead with 
our voices, but in reality keeping each other back in our 
extreme eagerness. Suddenly we were at the foot of 
the hill, and, already half broken down by the run, 
commenced its toilsome ascent. 

As we emerged from the thick brushwood and looked 



444 A RECKLESS ACTION. 

up toward the daase, the sight which flashed upon our 
eyes was awful to behold. 

Lawton was within a few feet of the bear, who still 
urged his painful flight; but now it was with his gory- 
head and flaming, blood-injected eyes half turned with 
threatening rage upon his reckless foe, while the uplifted 
hand and general action of the latter indicated an in- 
tensity of mental excitement bordering upon insanity. 
He evidently was preparing to seize the retreating mon- 
ster by his long and shaggy wool, and measure his 
'strength with the remnant of that which we had been 
told could crush the bones of a horse as though they 
were so many dried sticks. 

" Lawton, you jackass !" shouted the doctor, in a 
voice of frightened strength, " come back ! Stop ! Don't 
touch that bear! If he turns, he'll mash every bone 
in your body. Come hack!" 

But he was deaf to every thing like reason. His livid 
face, dishevelled hair, and furious energy of manner 
were terrible to behold as he threw every power of his 
muscular frame into a last long stride upon the retreat- 
ing beast, and brought down his powerful grip into 
the yielding wool. 

A. cry of mingled alarm and warning from our scat- 
tered ranks seemed to recall him to his senses. 

As the bear came to a half-halt and turned his blood- 
shot eyes and bared teeth more fully upon him with a 
threatening growl, a flash of reason seemed to illuminate 
his turbid brain and light him to the path of safety. 
He relinquished his dangerous hold upon the retreat- 
ing monster, who at once resumed his flight with ap- 



"a gun! a gun! give me a loaded gun!" 445 

parently a reviving streDgtli that defied further pursuit. 
He now seemed to pass up the hill with an easy and 
sliding gait, while we were falling over hidden logs, or 
sinking knee-deep into the light, leafy soil of decaying 
vegetation at every step. Even at that thrilling moment, 
I found time to wonder how it was that he could outstrip 
us with his heart's blood spouting from two gaping 
wounds at every leap, and his wounded head also bleed- 
ing with deadly freedom. 

Lawton gazed after him with clenched and uplifted 
hand, and a look of wild disappointment gleaming from 
his unsettled eye. He was evidently now conscious of 
the madness of his former pursuit, and contented himself 
with devoting the remainder of his strength to calling 
vehemently for a loaded gun. 

"A gun ! a gun ! Give me a loaded gun ! "Why don't 
some of you shoot ? The bear will get away ! Follow 
him, some of you ! I can go no farther." And he sank 
upon the shelving hill-side in the weakness of overtaxed 
muscles and lungs. 

"There's no use following him any farther," exclaimed 
the broken-winded master. "He's got away from us, 
and it's too dark in these bushes to hunt for him. You 
•can't see now ten feet around you ; and he might turn the 
tables by waylaying us behind some rock or clump of 
bushes. My ribs are not over and above strong. I'm 
going back." He spoke word after word with a rapid 
and broken utterance, as he leaned his rifl.e against a 
decayed log, wiped his dripping brow, and pufited and 
blew like a grampus in shoal water. 

"Yes; but he can't go far," gasped the exhausted 



446 TRUTH, POETRY, AND DELICACY OF EXPRESSION. 

pursuer. " He's got two ounce-balls through him, — one 
through his heart, the other through his brain. How 
can he hold out long ? Look here at the great clots of 
blood that burst from him as he jumped this log! How 
long can he live now?" He pointed to the large, water- 
lily-like leaf of an arctic plant, whose polished and con- 
cave surface contained probably a gill of hardening 
blood. "Look at that,'" he continued, "and tell me 
that it's no use to follow him. I'm only waiting to get 
my breath again." 

"Oh, you jackass!" replied the breathless doctor, as 
he gained our stopping-place. " Suppose that bear had 
hugged you : where would you have been now ?" 

" There's more truth than either poetry or delicacy of 
expression in your salutation, doctor," said the now 
rational and reviving Mmrod. "I believe I was a jack- 
ass up to the last moment : it wouldn't have done to have 
held on to him any longer, I don't think" 

"Oh, by George! — what a climb!" gasped exhausted 
"Williams, as he staggered against a tree and threw down 
his gun in the rank undergrowth at his feet. "Why 
couldn't I hit him ? "What miserable luck !" 

"Yes, you may well ask that," said the disappointed 
voice of the irritated pursuer. "Why didn't you give 
your gun to the doctor if you couldn't shoot yourself ? 
You talk about hunting bear !" 

"Everybody can miss sometimes, I suppose," retorted 
the chagrined hunter. "Ybw fired from a rest, and 
while he was standing still: anybody could have done 
that" 

Here the discussion was interrupted by the arrival of 



THE RESULT OF A HURRIED CONSULTATION. 447 

the less agile members of the chase^ and a hurried con- 
sultation resulted in a determination to follow the bear as 
far as the crown of the hill at any rate. We therefore 
separated into seven parties of two each, spread ourselves 
out to the right and left, and renewed the ascent with a 
distance of ten or fifteen feet between each couple. In 
this way we finally reached the top of the hill; but, 
though we had beat every bush with our guns and 
peered behind every rock and log, we could see no fur- 
ther sign of him, — not even the print of his heavy foot 
upon the yielding soil, or a drop of his wasting blood 
upon the hanging leaves. He had evidently given us the 
slip; and, as we once more joined company upon the bare 
and breezy height, we looked down the gloomy path we 
had just ascended, and wondered if he might not still be 
among some of those dense bushes or behind one of 
those large boulders, ready, at a moment's warning, to 
hug any one passing within his reach. It was now quite 
dark enough to make our position unpleasant as we 
looked and wondered in this way. 

" What a pity we hav'n't an extra hour of daylight to 
follow him up !" exclaimed one. 

" Let's come ashore the first thing in the morning and 
bring Jack and Brag (our two dogs) to track him to his 
den," said another. 

"Yes ; they'd track him with a vengeance," remarked 
a third. " They've got too much sense for that." 

"Let's look around a little longer," said Lawton, who 
had now possessed himself of one of the men's carbines 
and felt more eager than ever; "he can't be far off." 

"It's no use going any farther!" remarked the cap- 



448 HOW WE RETUBN ON BOARD. 

tain, as he peered anxiously through the increasing gloom. 
"We'd hetter be getting down to the boat before it's too 
dark to see our way. If it's a foggy day to-morrow and 
we can't continue the survey, we'll come back and hunt 
him up by daylight. Allans !" 

And so we returned on board with our wearied limbs 
and disabled boat, and left old Bruin to drag his bat- 
tered hull to some quiet corner, there to stuff his wounds 
with leaves and growl through the long and feverish 
night. 

The next day was unfortunately beautifully clear, — "just 
the weather for surveying;" and so we continued our 
work and left our wounded foe to whiten upon the moun- 
tain's side, or drag through heavy weeks and months of 
slow recovery. 



CHAPTER XXm. 

WE AERIVE AT ATAN AND FALL IN WITH SOME OLD ACQUAINTANCES — ^AFTER 
WHICH WE NARROWIT ESCAPE BEING FEASTED TO DEATH BY THE RUSSIANS, 
ARE TOLD SOME " STUNNING" TARNS, SEE A WHALE STRUCK, AND FINALLY 
GET SAFELY TO SEA. 

At last we were "making the best of our way" for 
Ayan, and it would be almost impossible to imagine 
wbat a cheerful feeling pervaded the ship at the prospect 
of spending a week in such a port as we supposed that to 
be. When it was first determinately known that we 
were to pass the summer of 1855 along the inhospitable 
and dreary shores of the Okotsk Sea, we were hanging to 
a quiet anchor in the harbor of Hong-Kong, engaged in 
the pleasures of recreation after a stormy cruise of six 
months, as well as in the labour of refitting again for 
sea. 

"We immediately began to hunt up authorities on the 
subject of that sea in general, and were surprised that we 
could neither find individual or book possessed of the 
desired information. There was a woeful falling-ofi*, too, 
in the charts of that frozen part of the world ; and the 
consequence of all this was that when we left Hong- 
Kong our only idea of the ground we were going to was 
that it was the Okotsk Sea ; that we would be there likely 
to fall in with hundreds of whale-ships ; that millions of 
wild geese and ducks, flying from the heat of tropical 
summers, took refuge in its extensive lagoons and 

29 449 



460 WHAT WE KNEW OF THE OKOTSK. 

marshes; that they were so tame while thus away from 
the "haunts of man" that a good stick would do more 
service among them than a double-barrelled shot-gun; 
and that upon the eastern coast of Siberia (its western 
boundary) there existed a large and flourishing city, 
whose streets were lit by gas, whose stately mansions 
were filled by hospitable Russians, and whose name was 
Ayan. A report was also spread that a Russian count 
there aM^aited the arrival of the "E-inggold Expedition," 
loaded with charts and instructions from the emperor at 
St. Petersburg, the former being an imperial present of 
all previous surveys of Russian officers in those waters, 
(designed to assist us in our work,) while the latter made 
it the especial duty of the said Russian nobleman to leave 
no stone unturned to render the stay of the Americans 
as i^leasani as ^possible. I need scarcely say that much of 
all this subsequently proved to be disagreeably tinctured 
with romance; but there was also in it a very fair amount 
of truth. We certainly got the charts^ and, if not treated 
well by a nobleman, were at least nobly treated by two 
men, in the persons of the accomplished governor and 
his Falstaff-like second in command, — "old Frybark," as 
Hartman soon came to pronounce his name. But more 
of him anon. 

It was toward the close of the evening of the 31st of 
August, 1855, that we stood boldly in for the port of 
Ayan, under all sail and steam; for, though coal was 
scarce, we could well afford to burn it now, as we were 
xunning for a city "whose streets were lit with gas" and 
where coal at any rate must be abundant. Besides, we 
had a four or five knot ebb-tide setting out against us, 



HOW WE ARRIVE AT AYAN. 451 

and the " old John" would scarcely have stemmed that 
had we not had steam to help our sails. 

It struck two bells (5 p.m.) in the first dog-watch as we 
called "all hands bring ship to anchor;" and half an hour 
later all our sails were furled snugly to the yards and the 
"old John" herself (the tide having slackened as we got 
in-shore) was steaming slowly, through quite a fleet of 
American whalers, to a more inner anchorage. Five 
minutes more, and she rounded to with her usual 
grace (?), let go her anchor in a quiet part of the harbour, 
entirely removed from the strong tide and surrounded 
in part by the "snow-clad mountains of Siberia," and, as 
usual, commenced rolling heavily to the swell which set 
into the mouth of the harbour. 

We found these "snow-clad mountains" without a ves- 
tige of snow or ice near them, covered by a luxuriant 
undergrowth and supporting as healthy-looking forests 
of spruce and birch as I ever saw. From a distance the 
entire scene had much more of a tropical than of an 
arctic aspect; and the unlooked-for attentions of several 
wandering mosquitos served to help us to the conclusion 
that the " snow-clad mountains" of Siberia were not 
always the bleak and frozen heights of which we had 
read in our school-boy days, and that, after all, " Siberia 
the frozen" might be a very pleasant place. To test the 
truth of this conclusion, several of us took a boat when 
the work was over, and started for a point of the harbour 
around which one of the whalers told us we should find 
Ayan ; and as we rounded the point and shot into the 
pond-like cove from the rippling beach of which a scat- 
tering and streetless town ran back a half-mile or more, 



452 "more like a whale!" 

'we could not avoid giving vent to our disappointment. 
Instead of thanks to a merciful Providence who had con- 
ducted us thus far in our coffin-like craft with safety to 
our bones and lives, we indulged in such ejaculations as 
the following : — 

"Why, hillo !" said one : "this can't be the place we've 
been looking forward to with such pleasure for such a 
long time." 

"I don't see any streets to he lit with gas!" put in a 
second. 

"I wonder if that's the population waiting for us on 
the wharf?" asked a third. 

" That big fellow looks very much like a Russian 
count," remarked a fourth. 

" More like a whale !" put in a fifth. 

"Hush! he'll hear us!" said another. "I'll tell you 
what, he looks as if he lived well. I hope his larder is 
solid." 

Here the boat's keel grated sharply on the shelving 
beach of slaty shingle, and as we got out we were warmly 
received by four persons in European costume, while some 
half-dozen others, in strange dress and with the strongly- 
marked features of the Cossack, lingered in the rear. 

The gentleman who looked like a Russian count, ac- 
cording to one of our partj^, and like a whale, according 
to another, addressed us in perfectly good English, intro- 
ducing himself as the agent for the Russian Fur Com- 
pany, Mr. Freighburg, and one of his companions as 

Dr. , of the same service. The remaining two, much 

to our surprise, proved to be old acquaintances, — members 
of that numerous tribe of restless Americans who live in 



THEY OFFER TO SELL US STORES. 453 

all parts of the world, turning over their nimble sixpences 
or attempting to establish new forms of government over 
dilapidated states, — the same, in short, who, when last 
seen by us, were leaving the Japanese port of Ha-ko- 
da-di in high dudgeon at the authorities for refusing to 
let them land their cargo of "Yankee notions" and esta- 
blish a store at that port. They now pointed to an im- 
mense block-house, telling us that the Eussians had re- 
ceived them very kindly and given them the use of that 
building as a storehouse, and that, having landed all of 
their stores, &c., they had sent the Leveret on a whaling- 
voyage, and were now prepared to meet any reasonable 
calls upon their invoice. The Eussians, they said, had 
bought every thing from them at a certain price, but left 
them at liberty to sell to others provided said others 
would pay higher. This we thought very liberal in the 
Eussians, but indicative of higher prices than naval offi- 
cers on a thousand dollars a year would be likely to 
relish. But to return to Ay an and "old Frybark." 

"Any coal in Ayan, Mr. Freighburg?" asked Lawton, 
as the jovial old fellow took two of us by the arm and 
urged us toward his house. 

"Any beef in Ayan, Mr. Freighburg?" asked the 
purser: "we've been living on fish until we're getting 
scaly." 

"Beef, yes! coal, no! But we have plenty of liquor. 
We will go to my house first and take 'twenty drops,' after 
which we will talk about beef and coals. I suppose the 
whale-ships may have plenty of coals." 

He was a large and powerful man, — the most perfect 
ideal of a strong man, I think, that I ever saw, weighing 



454 "OLD FRYBARK." 

about three hundred, perhaps more, — looking as if he was 
all flesh, but feeling as if he was all iron, and carrying his 
weight with a light, firm step, while the drops of exertion 
roiled from his heated brow. As we walked along the 
broken edge of a dry watercourse, he uncovered his head 
and fanned himself with his broad-brimmed Panama hat, 
until I buttoned my pea-jacket closer around me and 
shivered before the disturbed air. 

"Why, my good sir, you button your coat: you are 
cold? We find it very warm to-day." And, sure enough, 
when we reached his house we found the windows and 
doors all open, though we had left the thermometer at 
forty degrees on shipboard, and that, too, before the set- 
ting sun had left the air without his warming rays. 

"Yes, Mr. Freighburg, it is quite cool for us," re- 
marked one of the party: "we find our coats quite com- 
fortable." 

"Ah, yes! quite cool. "Well, we want 'twenty drops:' 
they will warm us," 

And, "suiting the action to the word," he brought out 
one of the largest gin-bottles I ever saw, filled a dozen or 
more large wine-glasses, and, drinking off one, — "to test 
its quality," as he observed, — took up another, and, mo- 
tioning us to do likewise, continued: — 

"Well, now then! we drink to Eussia and America, 
— always friends !" 

We drank the toast with as little of wry in our faces 
as possible, and, with a choking sensation about the 
throat, lit cigars and walked out to see " Ayan." 

We found it composed of some fifty or sixty log-houses, 
most compactly put together, to guard against the exces- 



LOG PALACES. 455 

sive cold of their long winters, and of various plans and 
dimensions. The roofs were all painted red, without a 
single exception ; and, though they were log-houses, they 
were such log-houses! Their walls were of huge pine 
logs, smoothly planed, and made to fit one over the other 
like the bowls of so many spoons ; and the cracks thus 
left were tightly calked and then puttied. They were 
mostly of one story; but then such "one stories" as they 
were ! Some of them covered a vast extent of ground, — 
the governor's mansion in particular, in which, if I re- 
member rightly, I counted twenty-three apartments. 
"Old Frybark's" domicil was the only one that boasted 
a second floor, and he acknowledged that to be more for 
summer use than any thing else. 

We noticed that every room was provided with a huge 
fireplace, and that the windows were all double, the 
glasses being separated about six inches apart, and con- 
taining between them an ordinary brick, upon which was 
raised a small pile of table-salt. The object of this salt, 
they told us, was to absorb the moisture which penetrated 
through the outer window before it could enter through 
the second into the apartment. 

" Oh !" exclaimed our jovial host, as we lounged through 
the twenty-three rooms of the governor's vast mansion, — 
" oh ! it is such a pity that the fear of the Allies drove the 
governor and his family into the country ! See here this 
fine rosewood piano : you should hear his beautiful daugh- 
ters sing to its deep-toned sound, or see them dance with 
the doctor and the aide-de-camp around this large room." 

We could not avoid acknowledging our deep participa- 
tion in his regrets, as he thus showed us what we had 



456 ENGLISH VANDALISM VS. FRENCH BREEDINa. 

missed. We had not heard the rustle of a lady's dress 
for more than six months, and wanted something to 
make us feel civilized again. 

And thus we lounged from room to room, every thing 
deserted and cheerless ; for the governor had retreated, 
with the entire population, hundreds of miles into the 
interior before the expected demonstration of the com- 
bined fleet, burying every thing that they could not 
carry, and leaving Mr. Freighburg (who was a non-com- 
batant) to look out for things in general and the buried 
articles in particular. We subsequently saw long trenches 
which the Allies had dug in the (not always vain) search 
for cannon, nominally, but, in reality, for any and all public 
property worth taking away. (It must be remembered 
that Ayan was a depot of the Russian Fur Company, and 
not the property of the Czar, hence private property, at 
any rate, should have been respected.) With rare polite- 
ness, the retreating governor had left orders with Mr. 
Freighburg to put his house and billiard-table at the 
disposal of the allied officers. 

"I am sorry that I cannot extend to you the same 
civility," remarked our host: "the English officers took 
away all the balls and cues when they left. Voild the table ! ' ' 

" Unheard-of vandalism !" exclaimed the master. " And 
bow acted the Frenchmen?" 

" Oh ! — the Frenchmen ? Always gentlemen. You see, 
the governor valued this table very much; for after it 
commences snowing we are confined to the house so 
much that one must have something to make amuse- 
ment. After a shell freezes over the snow, then we dig 
our way out, hitch up our dogs to the sleighs, and are 



" TWENTY drops" AND CHERRY-STEMMED PIPES. 457 

our own masters. Then we cut streets througli the snow 
from house to house, and begin to be sociable. But 
come; let us walk a little more: then we shall want 
'twenty drops.' " 

So we walked on, turning now up the valley toward 
the small but neat-looking Greek church, whose red 
steeple and pendent bell looked more like home and 
civilization than any thing we had seen for a long, long 
time. We walked on and on, until the pale Northern 
moon shone upon our evening path, and then turned and 
(for want of another road) retraced our steps to the two- 
story house, where "twenty drops" were poured out, as a 
matter of course, cherry-stemmed pipes loaded with good 
Turkish tobacco, and family-looking old rocking-chairs 
filled by wearied limbs. One, two, three hours in these 
sleepy old rockers, the yawning "good-night," a chilly 
pull in an open boat, the hoarse hail of "boat ahoy!" 
from the watchful old quartermaster, the flash of a side- 
lantern in our eyes, a steep climb up the rolling side, and 
we were again upon the deck of our wandering home. 
I went to bed, and dreamed that the entire English nation 
were condemned to an eternal game of billiards ; and I 
hope sincerely that this book may reach England, if it be 
only to let them see how some of the officers of H. B. M. 
frigate Sibyl requited the high-bred and considerate cour- 
tesy of the Russian Governor of Ayan during the summer 
of 1855. 

We were so much pleased with "old Frybark's" 
Turkish pipes and tobacco, as well as with his " twenty 
drops" and off-hand hospitality of the previous evening, 
that, when he came on board the next morning and told 



458 PERIODICAL WATERCOURSES. 

US that "he expected all hands to dine with him that 
day," there was not a face that did not sparkle, or a 
tongue that tried to excuse its owner. Probahly the fact 
of said tongues having tasted nothing but salt provisions 
or insipid preserved meats (the fish and turnips of Taousk 
Bay excepted) for several months, combined with our 
host's promise that his table should groan under the 
delicacies of the Ayan season, — probably, I say, this com- 
bination may have had something to do with our spark- 
ling faces and consenting voices. But let facts speak for 
themselves. 

As the appointed hour for dinner approached, we called 
away two boats, and, leaving the " old John" in charge of 
the best bower, a good scope of chain, the officer of the 
deck, and engineer of the day, the remainder of us packed 
ourselves into them and started for the quiet landing on 
the slaty beach that bounds the smooth waters of the 
inner harbour. We were received this time by the 
yelping of hundreds of sleigh-dogs, who, being abso- 
lutely necessary during the winters for travelling-pur- 
poses, are well taken care of when the summers arrive, 
in anticipation of future need of their services. "We 
looked in the direction whence these howls and yelps 
proceeded, and saw a large log-house, around which hun- 
dreds of these dogs were lazily basking in the sun, and 
thought it would be a good idea to pay them a visit on 
our way up. We therefore crossed the dry and rocky 
bed of a periodical watercourse, .and approached their 
commodious kennel. These watercourses are worth a 
passing notice. 

The immense quantity of snow and ice which covers 



SIBERIAN SLEIGH-DOGS. 459 

tbat wliole country at the end of their long and severe 
winters, melting sometimes with destructive rapidity 
during the first spell of warm weather, rushes down to 
the sea in swollen streams that uproot trees, dislodge 
huge rocks, and most effectually put a stop to all travel- 
ling until the green patches once more appear upon the 
hill-sides, and the turbid streams, gradually decreasing in 
dimensions, finally disappear entirely, leaving their un- 
even beds spotted here and there with silent pools as the 
only indication of their short-lived existence. It was 
over one of those uneven and spotted beds that we now 
picked our way, and, as we climbed the opposite bank 
and came suddenly upon the various groups of dogs, 
they raised their shaggy heads and howled most piteously. 
And that was the extent of the notice that they deigned 
us. There was no wagging of tails, no bristling of the 
backs, not even any skulking behind corners, — nothing 
but the protracted howl, and a sleepy indifference to our 
proximity ; and, as they turned their vacant eyes upon us, 
we were convinced of the truth of the character ascribed 
to their peculiar breed, — i.e. that they are utterly worth- 
less in every point of view, except as regards their docility 
and power of endurance before a sleigh. Their kennel, 
as 1 have already observed, was a large log-house, and in 
it they were locked up at night, while around it they were 
fed and watched during the day. They had their regular 
keepers, whose only duty consisted in attending to their 
wants and keeping them from wandering away. They 
gave us a parting howl as we left their unsavory locality, 
and again crossed the dry bed of the vernal torrent on 
our way to " old Frybark's" two-story domicil. 



460 THE BEAUTY OF A VIVID IMAGINATION. 

Arriving in good time at the door of that hospitable 
mansion, we were actually received with open arms. The 
old fellow looked as if he longed to embrace us all, but 
contented himself with shaking hands crushingly, calling 
loudly for the doctor, and hurrying us up to his outer 
chamber, where several bottles of various sizes, shapes, 
and colours, gleamed before our affrighted eyes. 

"Well, now, come on! A little too late for a Russian 
dinner, but ' better late than never.' "We will now take 
'twenty drops,' then go over to the governor's house and 
eat our caviare, (' 'Tis caviare to the general.' See Hamlet,) 
after which we will drink some champagne and have 
dinner. My house is so small that I have set the go- 
vernor's table, and after dinner we will have the horses at 
the door and take a ride into the country. It will shake- 
down our dinner and get up a good appetite for supper." 

"Supper!" exclaimed one of the party: "you don't 
expect to keep us to supper, too ?" he continued, with a 
look of dismay, for he had lunched heartily upon a tempt- 
ing beefsteak before leaving the ship, and shrank aghast 
before the rapid enumeration of what was yet before him. 

" Keep you to supper ? Yes ! and to a champagne-dance 
after supper, too. We shall be in want of music and 
ladies, but then we can whistle for ourselves and imagine 
that some of us are the governor's beautiful daughters. 
Allons! let us go and take our caviare." 

We went, and such a lunch as it was ! — equal to an 
ordinary meal. And then the dinner! Kothing to be 
seen on the long, narrow table, save wines and vases of 
flowers, plates, knives and forks, and piles of glasses. 
But then just cast your eye into the kitchen, and see 



OLD FRYBARK'S RUSSIAN DINNER. 461 

there the dozens of huge dishes loaded with — as "old 
Frybark" had promised — the delicacies of the Ayan 
season, and awaiting their turn to be introduced to the 
already half-sated guests. Salt and fresh water fish 
done up in every imaginable style ; beef looking more 
unlike beef, in its numberless modes of preparation, than 
I had ever before seen it ; vegetables here and there, and 
pastries without end. I never again wish to attend a 
dinner at Ayan, with "old Frybark" as the host; — at any 
rate, not until some cure for apoplexy is discovered, or 
the Russians lose some of their relish for fraternizing 
with Americans. I was so unfortunate as to find myself 
alongside of a miserably-hospitable priest of the Greek 
Church, who, finding himself unable to entertain me in 
a conversational point of view, divided his attention be- 
tween keeping my plate and glasses full and his own 
empty. In spite of his large appetite, he was a fine-look- 
ing, middle-aged man, rather below the ordinary stature, 
dressed in a fiowing robe of black silk, and wearing his 
dark and curling hair divided down the middle and 
hanging over his shoulders in flowing ringlets. His dark 
and silky beard reached almost to his waist, and his hands 
were as delicate as those of a lady. He had a smile of 
great sweetness, and was treated by the Russians with 
good-natured respect and consideration. He was a mar- 
ried man, and had returned from the interior with his 
family only the night before. On the whole, we had a 
very pleasant time alongside of each other, seeing that 
neither of us spoke a word of each other's or any com- 
mon language. 

At last this abundant dinner was ended, and, singular as 



462 CANNOT IMAGINE WHAT AILS HIS HOKSE. 

the assertion may seem, we did ride into the country imme- 
diately after it. "Old Frybark" was in the best imagin- 
able spirits ; we were all lively from the effects of good 
champagne, and one of the restless Americans, before 
alluded to, even beyond that point. It was amusing to 
see our host mount his tough-looking little horse. I 
think he must have weighed nearly three hundred before 
dinner, and how much more as he got on horseback I 
should be afraid to say. Taking wines at eight pounds 
to the gallon, and viands at something less, I should say 
that the horse must have capered under at least three 
hundred and twenty or thirty as he touched him with his 
spur and pointed him at the steep breast of one of the 
towering hills by which the city is enclosed. 

Our ride was both an exciting and pleasant one, — ex- 
citing to the confused ideas of the restless American, who 
"couldn't for the life of him tell what was the matter 
with his horse" until he had been thrown twice, when 
he arrived at the very tardy conclusion that "that 
champagne must have been very strong," — and pleasant 
to us, who had been aware of, and guarded against, said 
strength. Our road took us over mountains, along 
patches of hard sea-beach, up valleys, across streams, 
and, finally, brought us vis-a-vis with his excellency the 
Governor of Ayan and suite, who were coming in on a 
hand-gallop from their country-retreat to do us the 
honour of visiting the "old John" and assistiug Mr. 
Freighburg in the duties of hospitality. HJs excellency 
received us with great warmth of manner, and told us, 
through our now excited host, that he had been expecting 
us for some time, and that if we had only arrived before 



HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR OF AYAN. 468 

the Allies he might have received us in a manner more 
in keeping with his feelings ; but, as things now stood, 
we must excuse any apparent neglect, and take the ex- 
pressed will for the impossible deed. 

We replied, with equal suavity of manner, that we had 
already been almost feasted to death by his accomplished 
(here " old Frybark" blushed scarlet, and looked in other 
respects quite overpowered) representative, and that if 
he did not mercifully interpose his authority there was no 
telling what grave consequences might ensue. At this 
point we all laughed, as a matter of course, and, giving 
the reins to our fretful little horses, galloped back to 
Ay an ; the governor and captain leading off, " old Fry- 
bark" and our doctor next, then the Russian doctor and 
Oarnes, and, finally, "the crowd in general" bringing up 
the confused rear, while the restless American darted 
about in all directions upon his irritated horse, Mdth the 
evident desire of attracting the admiration of his excel- 
lency to his superior (?) horsemanship 

And thus we re-entered Ayan, where a fresh edition 
of Turkish pipes and tobacco, of "twenty drops," and 
of pressing invitations to partake bountifully, occupied 
the time that must yet elapse before the promised supper. 

Fortunately, we were spared that promised supper for 
the present, but with the express understanding that it 
was to come off on the following night. " Distance lent 
enchantment to the view," as we settled back into the 
old arm-chairs, and talked about the war, the late van- 
dalisms of the English officers, the manners and customs 
of the several tribes of Eastern Siberia, the price of furs, 
and of statistics in general. The governor spoke quietly, 



464 EXTRAVAGANT PRICE OF FURS. 

but feelingly, of tlie great losses and hardships which he 
had been forced to entail on the population by taking them 
away from their homes into a comparative wilderness, and 
gave us several interesting anecdotes of Siberian country- 
life. There was nothing in this prolonged conversation 
that surprised us more than a remark of Mr. Freigh- 
burg's in regard to the high prices which the company 
realized for many of their furs. He told us, among 
other things, that their hunters were sometimes so for- 
tunate as to take a species of beaver — never more than 
two or three during the whole season, however — whose 
skins sold in St. Petersburg for the enormous sum of one 
thousand rubles, (nearly eight hundred dollars,) and that 
the silver fox often sold as high as three hundred. 

"We expressed our surprise that a heaver's skin should 
sell for so large a sum, remarking that in the northwest- 
ern sections of the United States they were quite plenti- 
ful, and the fur comparatively cheap. 

"Ah! but, my dear sir," he replied, "you have not 
this beaver of which I speak in your country. We have 
the inferior kind of beaver here, too, but it is a very 
different animal from the one I speak of. The skin of 
this one is just large enough to make a fine high collar 
for a winter cloak, and the Russian noblemen who want 
such collars must pay their one thousand rubles or go 
without.'' 

We had every reason to believe " old Frybark" to be 
a man of strict veracity, and his assertion was, moreover, 
sustained by the others present, who spoke of it as a 
matter of course ; still, I hesitate to publish such an un- 
heard-of price for a beaver's skin, and must refer all 



ANOTHER EVENING PARTY. 465 

skeptics on tlie subject to "old Frybark" himself. I 
myself believe that the price was as he stated. 

And now, if the reader will imagine twenty-four hours 
passed, (during which time the governor had returned to 
the inner settlement, leaving his aide to assist " old Fry- 
bark" in entertaining us,) and pretty much the same 
party reassembled in our host's "second-floor sitting- 
room," in company with Turkish pipes and tobacco, nu- 
merous bottles of " twenty drops," and the prospective 
supper which was at length at hand, — if he will imagine 
us in that room, I say, and himself as a listener, he will 
hear what we listened to upon that occasion, and doubt- 
less be as much surprised as we were. 

"You talk about beef!" said "old Frybark," as he 
refilled his huge pipe and drew a match across the bottom 
of the box. "You say you had too much yesterday, and 
yet you want whole bullocks now to take on board ship ! 
Well, the natives will drive three in for you this evening. 
"When the English came we had to drive them all back 
into the country." 

He lit his large pipe and puffed away complacently, 
with his gaze riveted upon the bottle of "twenty drops" 
as Dickens says old John "Willett was wont to admire the 
kitchen boiler. 

" You talk about eating and drinking as if we ate and 
drank a great deal," he at length continued: "you 
should see one of these Tongouse [Tongouse Indians^ 
drink butter if you want to see how much a man used 
to cold weather can drink." 

^^Drink butter'" exclaimed one of the party. "Why 
don't they mHt?" 

30 



466 A TONGOUSE DRINKS FORTY POUNDS OF BUTTER. 

"Because they like to drink it better," was the reply. 
**Ihave seen one of them drink forty pounds and then 
go to sleep." 

"Did he ever wake up again?" asked a surprised 
voice. 

"ITone of your marines' yarns here, old gentleman," 
remarked another. 

"Oh, Mr. Freighburg!" exclaimed a fourth, in a depre- 
catory tone, — ^^ forty pounds?" 

"Forty? Yes; any one of these Tongouse that you 
see will drink twenty as an everyday affair ; but there is 
one fellow in particular, who, as I say, once drank forty 
and then went to sleep. I pledge you my honour." 

'■'■You didn't see him, Mr. Freighburg?" I asked, in a 
hesitating voice ; for, after commencing the question, I 
suddenly remembered that he had already pledged his 
honour to its truth. 

"Yes I did, though," he replied; "and I'll tell you how 
it was. A friend of mine was as skeptical as you are, 
and so I just said to him, 'Mr. Henry, I see that you don't 
believe what I tell you.' 

" ' Not a bit of it,' he said. 

"'Well,' said I, 'you pay for forty pounds of butter 
that is in the Company's warehouse, and give it to him, 
and if he doesn't drink it all before noon (this was about 
nine o'clock in the morning) I'll pay you back the 
money.' 

"'Agreed!' he exclaimed, and commenced to feel at 
once for his pocket-book; but I told him, 'ITever mind the 
money yet a while,' and sent my servant to hunt up the 
Tongouse. 



THOSE THREE FELLOWS HAD A NARROW ESCAPE. 467 

"After a while lie came; and when he heard what it 
was all about, and saw the butter, his eyes sparkled, and 
he rubbed himself, as if he already had it in him. He 
just warmed it a little to make it run, and then set to 
work. At noon he had drank it all and was asleep in 
the sun, with the butter running from his pores in the 
shape of greasy perspiration." 

"Ugh! horrible!" exclaimed a disgusted voice: "what 
beasts they must be ! Are they fit for any thing but to 
drink butter and sleep?" 

"Yes; they drink whale-oil almost as well, and fight 
bears much better than you or I could. You were speak- 
ing of your encounter with a bear up the coast the other 
day: had one of these Tongouse been there instead ot 
your three fellows with their clubbed guns, he would not 
have got away as he did. Those three fellows had a nar- 
row escape : — ^you don't know how narrow. Had not the 
bear been frightened by the outlandish noises you made in 
rushing to the rescue, he would have made short work of 
them. You might as well expect to stun a whale by hit- 
ting bim over the head "with a boat-hook, as to stop a bear 
with a clubbed musket. You should have had a Tongouse 
there : they do not know what fear is. They attack the bear 
single-handed, with a long knife as their only weapon, and 
always win the battle unless he runs. They are generous 
as well as brave. Their mode of warfare you will doubt- 
less look upon as foolishly liberal. They always hunt with 
this knife, — ^which, with the handle, is from three to four 
feet long, — and if they come upon a bear asleep, instead 
of killing him at once, they catch him by his wool, give 
him a shake to wake him up, and then step back out of his 



468 HOW THE TONGOUSE FIGHT BEARS. 

way and tell 'him to come on. If lie moves off instead 
of fighting, they throw stones at him to make him angry, 
and then when he rushes up to hug they receive him on 
one knee, with the butt of the knife braced against the 
ground, and the point ready for his heart. I suppose thai 
sounds strange too, but it's true.'' 

"You are quizzing us, Mr. Freighburg," remarked one 
of the party, dryly. 

He glanced quickly at the speaker, and said, earnestly, 
"I assure you, upon my honour, that I am only telling 
jovi facts. Voilci M. the Governor's aide: ask him." 

"Well, I beg pardon," replied the doubter, with a 
smile that started the old fellow's tongue as loose as 
ever. "Give us some more: it's quite edifying." 

"Yes, but I take 'twenty drops' first. Smoking is dry 
work, and, when you come to talk too, it's parching." 
He knocked the ashes from his pipe, laid it on the table, 
and, as usual, filled all of the glasses. I, having already 
burned my throat with his modest "twenty drops," got the 
start of the party by complaining of a sick headache — 
which I really had — and begged to be excused from join- 
ing. Some offered one excuse, some another, and others 
manfully reached for their glasses, but with the air of 
martyrs. He cast a most reproachful glance at us who 
had declined, emptied his glass, refilled his pipe, and con- 
tinued. 

But before I proceed any further I must add a word in 
regard to the "butter-drinking feat" of the Tongouse. I 
published it some time since in a Philadelphia weekly 
paper, and shortly after met an old acquaintance, — a 



VERIFICATION OF THE " FORTY-POUNDS" STORY. 469 

purser in the navy, and who is at this very time stationed 
at the Philadelphia Navy-yard. 

"Look here !" he said to me, after we had indulged in 
the usual remarks as to the state of the weather: " that was 
quite interesting about the butter. But you don't expect 
people to believe it, do you?" 

"I can't say I do," was my reply. "Still, it is my own 
belief that it is true." 

" Oh, yes, I know," he returned. "And now I'll tell you 
something singular. I had a nephew who once went in a 
whale-ship for his health, and when he returned he told 
me that same yam as having happened to himself. He must 
have been the 'Mr. Henry:' that wasn't the true name, 
was it?" 

I candidly acknowledged that, having forgotten the 
name, I had taken that of Henry for want of a better ; 
and now, like "old Frybark" referring to the governor's 
aide, I can only say to any skeptic of Philadelphia who 
may read this book, " Voild, M. the purser of your navy- 
yard: 'ask him.' " And now let us return to the enlight- 
ening conversation of our Falstaff-like host. 

" That afiair of the butter was a good thing for all con- 
cerned," he continued. "I sold forty pounds for the 
Company, the Tongouse got a fine dinner, and Mr. Henry 
saw something that he would never have believed vithout 
seeing. Now, don't some of you want to pay for tioenty 
pounds ? I'll show you two men at once who'll fight for 
the liberty to drink it." 

Before any one could accept or decline his ofier, the 
door opened, and in walked a most singular specimen of 
the genus homo. He was below the ordinary height, but 



470 URIAH HEEP IN EASTERN SIBERIA. 

possessed of immoderately-thin long arms and legs. He 
had a huge head resting upon a cornstalk-like neck, a 
large and flabby-looking mouth, a most disagreeable 
countenance, and a manner at once obsequious and pre- 
suming. His complexion was horribly sallow, and hia 
huge feet moved over the creaking floor without seeming 
to leave it at all. His general appearance indicated a 
long ride accomplished, as he advanced to Mr. Freigh- 
burg and spoke a few words in Russian. When he had 

ended he was presented to the party as Mr. , just 

arrived from St. Petersburg. 

"Just arrived from St. Petersburg !" exclaimed several 

voices in a breath. " Why, Mr. , how long have you 

been on the road?" 

"Rather longer than usual," was the smiling — such a 
mniling! — reply. "To-morrow will be nine months since 
I left, but my health has been bad, and I travelled by 
short stages. I have only ridden forty miles to-day, but 
that is much for me." He, too, spoke English quite well, 
and, as he took a seat, crossed his pipestem-like legs, and 
folded his long hands over his knee, I expected to hear 
him add, "But Pm very 'umble," so much did he remind 
me of an old acquaintance, — one Uriah Heep, of David 
Copperfield memory. 

"Don't imagine that it's such a very terrible journey, 
after all !" exclaimed " old Frybark." " The Government 
Post does it in sixty days, and when the news of the war 
came it was only fifty-eight on the road. You can easily 
make the trip in eighty days at a cost of five hundred 
dollars : in fact, it is only a pleasant travel. You go from 
here to river on horseback, — a distance of some 



THE TONGOUSE AND THEIR REINDEER-BUCKS. 471 

six hundred miles ; then take a boat for several hundred 
more ; then leave the river and travel several hundred 
farther in light wagons or on horseback : you cross many 
rivers and mountains, follow the windings of numerous 
valleys, and see a splendid country and many singular 
people, during this part of the trip. Then you begin to 
arrive at a more cultivated region and to see signs of 
civilization, and in a week or so more you are at St. Pe- 
tersburg. You see this tobacco, that champagne, that 
loaf-sugar, that tea, that caviare ? — ^they all came over that 
long road, sewed up in raw hide, and always arrive in 
the good condition you see these in." 

"What a fine trip it would be if we could only run the 
' old John' on a safe rock, step quietly on shore, and go 
home by St. Petersburg !" exclaimed one of our party: 
"she couldn't drown us then, — confound her !" 

Here our host was called out to see another arrival, and 
the next moment we heard his large voice calling for all 
who wanted to see how the Tongouse travelled on rein- 
deer to come down. A general rush was now made for 
the door, where the new arrivals — in the shape of two 
Tongouse Indians — were leaning against their clean- 
limbed reindeer-bucks, whose branching antlers seemed 
in themselves heavy enough to bear down the elevated 
heads and arched necks of their fleet-looking owners. 
They had travelled seventy miles that day and yet looked 
fresh and lively. The saddles were girthed well upon 
the fore-shoulders, — almost on the neck, — and a single 
thong of hide served as a bridle. One of our party tried 
to mount, as any one would mount a horse; but the 
animal bent to the ground and became restive under the 



472 ^HOW THE CATTLE GET FOOD IN WINTEK. 

unusual proceeding. The Tongouse now mounted into 
the saddle by climbing up over his neck, and he stood as 
firm as if a feather only had been blown against him. 
They seemed to be very strong in the fore-shoulders and 
just the contrary in the back and quarters. For our edi- 
fication the second Tongouse now mounted, and a short 
race ensued, in which they seemed to get along quite 
well, but by no means as swiftly or gracefully as many 
of our ordinary horses : probably they would have shown 
to better advantage had they not already travelled seventy 
miles. 

"It's a mystery to me, Mr. Freighburg," I remarked, 
"how you manage to feed your stock during such long 
winters, — these hundreds of horses and dogs which we 
see, and the numberless reindeer which you say are 
owned farther in the interior. I don't even see sheds 
to shelter them under." 

"Why, bless your heart!" answered the old fellow, 
" we let our horses and reindeer go free as soon as the 
cold weather commences, and they wander about in 
droves of hundreds and thousands, finding plenty to 
keep them from starving during the winter. They dig 
down through the snow for dried grass, &c., and it is 
only toward the spring, when the snow thaws and then 
freezes again, thus covering the ground with a solid mass 
of ice, — it is only at that time that we have to feed them 
until the weather gets warm and melts the ice away. 
Now, one horse alone could not clear away the snow for 
food, and thus you find them in large droves, as I say. 
Their great number also adds to their security from the 
attacks of wild beasts. Now, as to sheds for sheltering 



TWO EXCITING EVENTS. 473 

them from the cold, we have none at all ; and, though the 
centigrade thermometer often sinks as low as twenty-five 
degrees below zero, we seldom hear of any of them freez- 
ing to death. You see, when it is so very cold we really 
do not feel it as much as if it were warmer ; for the air is 
always perfectly still and dry, and it is with the sharp, 
damp winds that we suffer most." 

And thus passed another evening; and the next day 
they were to dine with us, and upon the following we 

were to lunch with them, and then ^to sea once more 

in our miserable old rattletrap. 

The next day came and the dinner passed off finely ; 
and then the short night and supper on shore followed, 
and the early sun ushered in "the last day." This last 
day in port was remarkable for two things, — the first of 
which was fearfulli/ important, as Hartman expressed it, 
while the second was exciting in the extreme to all who 
witnessed it. The first was the purchase of an air- 
tight hogshead of fine flour from a charitable whaler, that 
was sufS.cient to insure us good bread until our arrival at 
San Francisco; and the second was the striking of a large 
whale within gunshot of our ship. But let my journal 
give us a few pages in regard to this latter : — 

" We had been at anchor three days. Our field-books 
were full of data for the harbour-chart, and the next 
morning's early sun was to see us under way for the 
river Amoor. During these three days we had worked 
hard in our boats with sextant and lead-line, and during 
the three nights still harder at the Russian governor's 
table with knife and fork. In fact, we had been almost 
feasted to death by these fraternizing Northmen, and had 



474 EFFECTS OF CLIMATE ON THE APPETITE. 

determined to remain on board this day at least, to repair 
damages and recover from the effects of their overdone 
hospitality and roast beef, in spite of the promise they 
had extracted from us to attend another lunch. 

" They were a glorious set of fellows, those very Rus- 
sians, — strong-framed, large-hearted, and with astonish- 
ingly-capable heads and stomachs, if one might judge 
from the quantity of wine and viands which they de- 
stroyed at most frequent and outlandish periods. They 
would drink three or four wine-glasses of raw gin or 
whiskey before each meal, — calling it by the modest com- 
bination of "twenty drops," — and raise their brows in 
surprise at our remarkable abstinence, we only indulging 
in one glassful. They would eat an ordinary meal just 
before each regular repast, calling it by the simple ex- 
pression of "getting ready," and accuse us of not liking 
some particular dish, simply from the fact of our slacken- 
ing up after having already eaten as much as two ordinary 
men before it was brought on the table. In short, they 
were men who could eat, drink, and keep late hours 
without experiencing any of those annoying results 
which too often present themselves in the shape of night- 
mare, unpleasant pains about half-way between one's 
head and heels, &c. &c. ; and, such being their powers of 
endurance, they had no idea of letting us recover quietly 
in our rooms from the effects of the previous night's 
supper, when, as they said, they were to lose our com- 
pany the next day. They therefore came off to the 
ship in a body, and had pretty well persuaded some 
of the more seasoned of the mess to return with them 
according to promise, when the cry was raised on deck 



WHALES IN THE HARBOUR. 475 

that a school of whales was entering the harbour, and 
that the whale-ships were all lowering their boats pre- 
paratory to commencing work. There were some seven 
of these ships, all Americans, each one being manned 
with not less than four boats ; hence the sport promised 
to be amusing, and the cry of ' whales in harbour !' no 
sooner reached us than all idea of leaving for the shore 
at once took wing. 

" The entire party now rushed up from below, — up, 
up, — some into the rigging, some on the yards, others 
into the tops, — every one seeking an elevation from 
which to look down upon the coming contest between 
man and the giant of the deep, — between mind and 
instinct. 

" It was curious in the extreme to watch the wary old 
bulls and cows as they drove the young calves into shoal 
water and there left them to feed, while they themselves, 
from the fact of drawing too much water, were forced to 
remain farther out, cruising back and forth, across and 
about the entrance, diving under ships, lying on the sur- 
face as if sunning themselves, motionless, apparently 
asleep, and yet sinking suddenly, like a lump of lead, 
dropping perpendicularly away from the sneaking boats, 
just as one of them would get close enough to make the 
harpooner brace himself for the deadly heave. Of calves 
I suppose there were a dozen or more, accompanied 
by an infinite number of grampus, amusing themselves 
in the shoal water ; and there were probably as many as 
fifteen or twenty of the bulls and cows ' backing and 
filling' in different parts of the harbour, each of the former 
having one— sometimes two — boats dogging his wake 



476 A SUBMARINE SOMERSET. 

or cutting across his course with silent, cat-like move- 
ment. 

"The harbour being small, the water smooth and 
polished, the day beautifully bright, and our positions 
quite elevated, we could follow most of their motions 
while under water nearly as well as when they swam on 
the surface ; and the manner in which they would turn 
from danger was really astonishing. In their doublings 
they put me in mind of the fox. One old gray-backed 
fellow I remember in particular, who, while swimming 
leisurely along from a pursuing boat, suddenly turned a 
deep somerset without disturbing the surface of the 
water at all, and a minute later breached some three or 
four hundred yards directly astern. Two boats — one of 
which had been sneaking upon him from either bow — 
had evidently caused this retrograde movement. 

" No sooner had this old fellow's huge body breached 
again to view, than the three boats, who seemed to be 
devoting their particular attention to him alone, crept 
swiftly back toward him with their noiseless paddles; 
but, while yet some distance off, his body, which had 
since his reappearance floated lightly and motionless on. 
the surface, seeming suddenly deprived of every thing 
that was buoyant, dropped perpendicularly out of sight, 
leaving nothing to tell of his previous sunning process 
save a few curling eddies. As a round-shot would have 
sunk, so sank he from the eyes of his pursuers, and when 
next seen was pretty well in with the calves and grampus, 
more than half a mile from his former position. The 
boats, however, judging with singular accuracy as to his 
submarine course, had followed him with such effect as 



HOW THEY SURPRISE "OLD GRAYBACK." 477 

to be witMn less than half that distance of him, as he 
blew his steam-like spout and again resumed his motion- 
less position on the surface. 

" In the mean time, the other fifteen or twenty boats 
were similarly engaged, and, an hour or more having now 
passed without any change in the programme, we began 
to think that our sport might not come ofij after all, when 
suddenly old Grayback, who had been cruising under 
water for some time, lost his reckoning and rose under 
the very bows of one of the motionless boats, and, before 
aware of his dangerous locality, received the ready har- 
poon into his unsuspecting blubber. 

"I think he must have sprung at least ten feet clear of 
the water, and for more than a second his huge frame, 
bent and doubled up by surprise or agony, was encircled 
by air only. Then he came down, and " oh, what a 
splash was there, my countrymen !" It reverberated over 
the whole harbour, and raised a swell over which the 
boat rose and fell as in a sea-way. 

" ' Starn all !' It was the clear, nasal voice of the Down- 
east boat-steerer, which came to us across the water 
almost as soon as the weapon had left his powerful 
grasp. 

"And it was time to 'starn all;' for, though the light 
boat sprang like a thing of life more than her length 
from the effects of the looked-for leap, yet she had no- 
thing to spare : the writhing monster struck the water 
within a few feet of the bow, and then turned for deep 
water with fearful velocity. At first they 'give him 
line,' then slowly ' check him,' and, finally, boil along in 
Ms foaming wake, as the powerful sweep of the trailing 



478 A TIME FOR SHARP EYES AND READY ACTION. 

steering-oar turns the boat as upon a pivot and guides 
her after the tautened line. 

" I do not think that her speed at the first jump could 
have been less than thirty miles the hour ; and only think 
of a boat being dragged at that rate through the water ! 
At times, I really believed that she was below the level 
of the sea ; but so great was her speed, that the water, 
instead of pouring into her, was thrown from her gun- 
wales in curling masses, that left a wake very much like 
that of a young steamboat. 

" JSTo sooner was boat No. 1 thus fastened to old Gray- 
back, than IsTos. 2, 3, and 4, all belonging to the same 
ship, dropped the silent paddles and, with their long, 
sweeping oars, took part in the exciting race ; while the 
remaining whales, as if conscious of the mishap which 
had overtaken their imprudent leader, rushed about in 
wild disorder, and, before recovering from their fright, 
another of their number had leaped bodily into the air, 
descended with a splash, and rushed wildly out to sea, 
with the barbed weapon in his side and the buoyant boat 
thundering along in his rear. 

"There were now two boats fastened to their flying 
prizes, while some half-dozen others were pulling vigor- 
ously in various directions, intent upon cutting off one or 
the other of the monsters — should the opportunity present 
itself in one of their many turnings — and fastening a 
second harpoon in case the first should draw out. Old 
Grayback, however, seemed fully aware of the game that 
was being played, and evinced a decided indisposition 
to being 'caught foul' a second time. He was now 
apparently cooled down by his 'two-forty' pace, and 



PLAYFULNESS OF "OLD GRAYBACK." 479 

seemed determined to limit his exertions to keeping out 
of harm's way, — now and then indulging in unpleasantly- 
sudden dives or dashes along the surface, as if merely to 
let them know that he was still 'about.' After running 
some miles to seaward, the old fellow had turned and 
retraced his track to within half a mile of the spot where 
he had been struck, and we thus had a fair view of his 
motions most of the time; but the other whale had 
dragged his boat with lightning speed around the north 
point of the harbour and disappeared entirely. 

" Upon old Grayback, therefore, we fixed our admiring 
eyes, and some adventurous spirits even advocated the 
idea of our joining in the fun with our own boats; but, 
as the majority of us still had in distant contemplation a 
mundane meeting with absent friends, the proposition to 
* take a boat and pull ourselves' (the crew having been 
worked hard the last few days) met with little encourage- 
ment. ' Every man to his own trade,' I thought to my- 
self, as old Grayback made one of his playful dashes, 
turned suddenly at right angles to his former course, and 
came toward us with frightful velocity. 'Every man to 
his own trade. "What would become of that boat now 
if I had the management of her? I think I'd much 
rather be seated on this topsail-yard with my spy-glass to 
amuse myself with.' 

"It was a fearful jerk — a bold outlay of his husbanded 
strength — which the leviathan made in that sudden dash 

o 

and short turn ; but the quick eye of the boat-steerer had 
caught the movement, and with one mighty sweep of his 
trailing oar turned the boat as on a pivot, just as she felt 
the tautening of the line. Onward she surged in his boil- 



480 THE SALLY ANN IS DISAPPOINTED. 

ing wake. Onward, onward. A breaking reef crossed 
their mad career ; but old Grayback had evidently again 
lost his reckoning, for he rushed steadily upon it. An- 
other second or two, and he must either turn at right 
angles or butt out his brains. He chose the former, as 
any sensible whale must have done, and seemed to fly 
with renewed velocity. Skirting the reef with a con- 
siderable portion of his huge head exposed, he passed so 
close to one of the ambushed boats as to furnish the long- 
looked-for chance of fastening a second iron. But the 
harpoon, though well directed, and urged by the power 
of a strong arm nerved by the moment's excitement, 
glanced harmlessly from his polished side, and was 
slowly hauled in by the disappointed whaler. The un- 
expected attack, liowever, seemed to lash him to perfect 
madness. Bounding off violently from the reef, he tore 
the first harpoon from its deep-seated hold, renewing 
Ms furious flight, which bade defiance to further pursuit, 
and leaving behind him a turbid wake of bloody foam. 
Old Grayback had saved his blubber, and the Sally 
Ann, of New Bedford, was minus her two hundred 
barrels. 

" ' Come on ! come on !' said the governor's aide, who 
was by me on the topsail-yard. 'The whale has got 
away; he has doubtless gone for his lunch after so much 
exercise : let us follow his example.' 

" So we went down to the deck, and another half-hour 
saw us entering the spacious mansion of the governor, 
and four hours after that we were again seated in the 
' second floor-parlour,' and two or three hours later we 
were shaking hands for the last time." 



ALL THAT CAN BE SAID OF AYAN. 481 

How singularly mournful such partings often are ! — 
such abrupt terminations of unexpected but pleasant 
associations of a few days ! Our jovial host lost his 
laughing roughness as he emptied the ashes from his last 
pipe, and his voice softened, and I thought his eye was 
more brilliant than usual, as he bade ns farewell, — we who 
had broken in upon their silent solitude and helped them 
to pass so many pleasant hours. 

"I'll tell you what it is," he said, slowly, as he passed 
from one to the other with outstretched hands, " you fel- 
lows don't know what a serious thing you are about to do. 
You are going to leave us here to our solitude just as 
the long winter is coming over us. You are going to 
return to your friends and homes in the civilized world, 
while we are to be frozen in here with our useless bil- 
liard-table and the stores we bought from the Leveret. 
Don't you think that furs ought to sell high when Chris- 
tian men have to live such a life to get them ? I wish 
they were twice as dear: then my pay would be double, 
and I should only have to stay here half as long." 

And thus we parted, and the next morning's sun shone 
upon the "old John" as she steamed slowly away from 
those isolated but truly hospitable mansions toward the 
scene of future work. 

After all that has been said, it would be needless to 
add that we did not find any coal at Ayan. And now for 
a parting word in regard to that slightly-known place. I 
forgot its exact position, but its latitude is about 56° I^. 
and longitude 138° E., and it is about half-way between the 
larger town of Okotsk and the mouth of the Amoor River. 
It contains some thirty or forty scattering houses, a Greek 

31 



482 THE LAST OP GLORIOUS "OLD FEYBARK." 

church, and a rough specimen of a ship-yard, where a 
small steamer, destined for the navigation of the Amoor 
River, was being built previous to the visit of the Allies. 
It is inhabited by three or four hundred persons, consist- 
ing of Russians, German-Russians, Cossacks, and the 
Tongouse Indians, and is the principal depot of the Rus- 
sian Fur Company in those regions. It is frequently 
visited by whalers, annually by a ship of the Company to 
carry the more ordinary furs to Europe, and seldom or 
never by any other vessels. It may be well here to add 
that the more costly furs are packed in water-proof bales 
and sent across the country to St. Petersburg in the same 
way in which " old Frybark's" white sugar and caviare 
were obtained. And now I have done with Ayan and — 
glorious " old Frybark." 



CHAPTER XXIY. 

■WE VISIT THE TSCHANTAR ISLANDS, PARTAKE LARGELY OF WILD RHUBARB, 
AND CAPTURE ONE OF THE INHABITANTS — AFTER WHICH WE SAIL FOR 
THE AMOOR RIVER, WHERE WE FALL IN WITH THE BOATS OF THE RUS- 
SIAN SQUADRON, FAIL TO PASS THROUGH INTO THE GULF OP TARTART, 
AND FINALLY RETURN INTO THE OKOTSK SEA. 

The day after leaving Ayan we sighted the Tschantar 
Islands, and toward night let go our anchor in the prin- 
cipal harbour of that of Fekilzoff. This was the only 
one of the group upon which we landed; but, upon 
steaming around the others, we found them exhibiting 
the same general appearances, from which we concluded 
that "in seeing one we had seen all." Their central 
latitude is 55° N., their longitude 138° 30' E. : they are 
covered with dense forests of spruce and birch, are rather 
hilly than mountainous, are watered by clear and 
numerous streams, and yet are not possessed of a single 
human inhabitant, as far as we could learn from our own 
observation and from conversing with whalers. 

In fact, animal life of every description seemed scarce, 
though the soil is remarkably rich 'and vegetation con- 
sequently luxuriant. In conversing with whaling-cap- 
tains in regard to these islands, they had held out most 
startling and sport-promising pictures to us. One of 
them said, for instance, that he had been anchored in 
one of their bays in company with two hundred other 
whale-ships, and that black bears were as abundant in 

483 



484 MARVELLOUS RISE AND FALL OF TIDES. 

the forests as one could desire. A boat's crew of his, he 
said, had once attacked and wounded one of them, when 
he gave chase, and not only ran them into their boat 
but swam out into the bay after them. They then turned 
on him with their lances and harpoons, and made short 
work of him. 

Another captain told us the most marvellous yarns 
about the rise and fall of the tides along these shores, 
and of the shoals of whale which had frequented these 
bays "last season." He said — and others confirmed the 
story — that he had struck whales in six fathoms water, 
and dug clams out of the sand directly under his boat 
two hours later. And yet we passed three or four days 
in those waters, and did not see a clam, a whale, a bear, 
or any thing remarkable in the rise and fall of the tides. 
The currents that ran through the passages that separate 
the islands, however, were of astonishing rapidity, ren- 
dering the navigation full of peril even for a steamer. 

WTien we let go our anchor in the Bay of Fekilzoff, we 
found several whalers already there, busily engaged in 
the work of wooding and watering ship. They com- 
plained greatly of the scarcity of whales, and talked of 
going to the northward in search of them. One by one 
they left us until we were alone in the silent bay. 

Upon the morning after our arrival, two boats had been 
detailed to sound out the harbour, while the others were 
employed in wooding and watering ship. This left our 
indefatigable ]*Timrod, the doctor, at liberty, and he was 
soon upon the hill-sides with his rifle ; but, after walking 
all day- and finding nothing but two squirrels, he returned 
on board in great disgust and with a very poor idea of 



THE DOCTOR "runs DOWN" A NATIVE. 485 

the veracity of the whaler who told us that " black bears 
were as abundant in the forests as one could desire." I 
must not forget to add that both bust-proof and his mas- 
ter accompanied him upon this excursion, and shared in 
his bitter disappointment. These squirrels were of totally- 
different species, though they were both amply provided 
with fur against the excessive cold of their winters. One 
of them was about as large as an ordinarj^ gray squirrel, 
of a dark grayish colour, and with a jet-black and flowing 
tail, while the other was much smaller, of claret hue, 
with narrow brown stripes running down his back, and 
possessed of very little tail at all. The former fell a vic- 
tim to bust-proof, and the latter was run down by the 
doctor and caught alive. These animals seemed to live 
on a little nut which we found in great quantities in the 
burr of the shaft-like spruce pine, whose growth was the 
densest I had ever witnessed in forest-trees. "We subse- 
quently bought whole baskets of these nuts from the na- 
tives at the mouth of the Amoor, partly as food for the 
doctor's pet, and partly because they were very fine for 
us to nibble at ourselves. They were about the size of 
a buckshot, of irregular formation, and tasted very much 
like the meat of the hickory-nut. Their covering was more 
of a skin than a shell, and might be swallowed without in- 
convenience. The trees on which this nut grows were, as 
I have already remarked, very abundant and straight ; and, 
as we expected soon to give out of coal and have to carry 
sail quite heavy in consequence, we cut and rafted a num- 
ber of them to be worked into spars in case of necessity. 
A hundred thousand ships might have loaded with simi- 
lar timber from that single island. The second evening 



486 GENERAL FORMATION OF THE TSCHANTAR ISLANDS. 

after our arrival, the wooding-party returned on board, 
bringing with them several bundles of a most refreshingly- 
green-lookiug vegetable, w^hich they said a whaler had 
recommended to them as a grand substitute for spinach. 
It proved to be wild rhubarb, and when cooked in the 
form of greens was any thing but unacceptable. It had 
a sharp, acrid taste, truly; but then the doctor spoke very 
strongly in favour of that particular property as an anti- 
scorbutic, and one or two trials sufficed to reconcile us to 
the taste. "We soon became very fond of it, and, before 
leaving for the Amoor River, took care to cut a good 
supply. It grew in great abundance along the sides of 
the hills, and has for many years been known to scurvy- 
threatened whalers. 

The general formation of these islands is worthy of a 
passing notice. 

Unlike most elevated and solitary formations, they 
present no indications of owing their origin to the action 
of subterraneous convulsions. You find no bold water 
around their shores, neither do you notice the cone-like 
peaks which generally lift themselves over a volcanic 
region. On the contrary, they are connected to the main- 
land by quite moderate and regular soundings, while 
banks, and reefs, and isolated rocks, render the naviga- 
tion any thing but pleasant. The tide also washes their 
shores with the rare velocity of from five to seven knots 
the hour, and adds its perilous uncertainty to the lesser 
dangers. Periodical gales of destructive violence also 
devastate their lordly forests and drive the sea in foam- 
ing surf along their rocky shores. Then comes a long 
and cheerless winter, which sinks the thermometer more 



A " RARE CHANCE FOR AN ENTERPRISING MAN." 487 

than one score of degrees below zero, and drives animal 
life into its burrowed home for shelter against its bound- 
less intensity. 

Wherever we landed, or while sailing along their silent 
shores, the whole country presented the appearance of a 
dense canebrake-like growth of spruce pine, extending 
from the sea to the summit of the highest ranges, and 
showing us at a single glance forest upon forest of the 
most beautiful spars for shipping. Seldom was it that 
we saw a crooked tree there : they were all as straight 
and branchless as the most fastidious spar-maker could 
desire, and will doubtless be duly appreciated when their 
owner, the Czar, sees fit to call into requisition their vast 
resources. 

When we were on the coast of China, at Hong-Kong 
and Shanghae, we had seen such spars as these selling at 
the unheard-of price of from fifty to two and three hun- 
dred dollars ; and, as we now walked between their lofty 
and shaft-like trunks, we could not help thinking how 
easy a fortune might be made by some enterprising 
Yankee, with an old timber-drover and a dozen or more 
good wood-cutters at his command. All he would have 
to do would be to cut and square some thousand or more 
of them, fill up his ship at the cost of time and labour 
only, and then run quietly to a ready market at either 
Hong-Kong, Shanghae, Manilla, or one of a dozen other 
ports. In the language of modern advertisements, 
"here is a rare chance for an enterprising man to make 
a fortune." 

It took us four days to end our combined w^ork of 
wooding, watering, and surveying; when we again got 



488 don't trust too much to their accuracy. 

up steam and anchor and continued on our way for the 
mouth of the Amoor, through a storm of rain, wind, and 
drifting fog-banks that soon rendered our navigation so 
uncertain and dangerous that we were glad to gain an 
anchorage under the sheltering heights of another of the 
group until the return of clear weather. The next day 
it had improved considerably, and we again got under 
steam and ran along down the coast, hoping to be able 
to pass through between the island of Sagalien and the 
mainland into the Gulf of Tartary, and, following the 
west coast of Sagalien, finally get out into the Pacific 
through the Straits of La Perouse and then shape our 
course for San Francisco. In this, however, we were 
destined to fail, as the reader will see. 

While at Ayan we had been presented by "old Fry- 
bark" with a large number of Russian charts, several of 
which related to the mouth of this river. These several 
charts embodied the latest surveys of that region, but 
were given to us by Mr. Freighburg with the warning 
remark, "Don't trust too much to their accuracy, for the 
channels there sounded out have long since been filled in 
by shifting sand-banks, and even we have to trust entirely 
to pilots." We therefore proceeded with our usual cau- 
tion, and, while thus feeling our way with lead and look- 
out over the unknown ground, we were forced to anchor 
at night and continue with returning light the previous 
day's work. It was a running survey that we were 
making of this coast, and we had consequently to steam 
well in along the land in order that Hartman might 
sketch in the coast-line as we proceeded. We found the 
water shoaling perceptibly as we neared the latitude of 



THE LAST BOTTLE OF WINE. 489 

the river, and were finally forced to run along in as little 
as three fathoms, or keep so far out to sea that the inden- 
tations of the land, the existence of rivers, &c. would no 
longer be discoverable. Of course we chose the former 
course, which, though entailing considerable risk, still 
guaranteed the accuracy of our future charts, which was, 
after all, the grand object of the Expedition. 

Running along in this way upon the morning after 
leaving the Tschantar group, we sighted a sloop-rigged 
vessel ahead, and, the wind being quite light, soon steamed 
up to her, in spite of her evident exertions to get into 
shoal water beyond our reach. A boat was lowered, 
despatched to board her, and shortly returned with her 
commanding officer, who came on board in high glee 
upon the discovery that we were an American and not 
an English steamer. She proved to be a Russian gun- 
boat that had run the gauntlet of the Allied fleet at Petro- 
polowski, and reached in safety the port of Petropskie, 
(off which we had anchored the previous night,) where 
said commanding officer lived, and who as a Government 
pilot had taken charge of her, and was now working her 
around into the Amoor to turn her over to the Russian 
admiral, there fortified with a squadron of five sail. This 
old gentleman wore a tarnished and threadbare uniform, 
looked as if he had seen much hard service, and spoke 
English quite fairly. We had no difficulty in compre- 
hending each other, as, with the table strewed with charts, 
cigars, and the captain's last bottle of wine, he pointed 
out the numerous errors of the former, and gave us a 
vast amount of general information that it would have 
taken us months of hard work to collect. For the benefit 



490 SOMETHING ABOUT THE MOUTH OF THE AMOOR. 

of persons interested in the present movement of the 
Czar as regards colonizing tlie banks of tliat river, I may 
as well introduce here a short synopsis of what we learned 
from the Government pilot, as well as a few remarks 
in regard to our own experience, which, while proving 
some of his information to be correct, encourages us at 
the same time to put confidence in other of his assertions 
the truth of which we never found ourselves in a position 
to test. 

He told us, then, as he smacked his lips over the long- 
untasted wine and pufied away at the equally-rare Ma- 
nilla cheroot, that charts would never be of much value 
as far as the mouth of the Amoor was concerned. Even 
he himself, he said, who had acted the part of a pilot in 
those waters for several years, had to trust to his lead and 
a good look-out, the sandbanks were so extensive and so 
liable to constant changes. There were two passages, he 
continued, but it was hard to choose between them, — the 
northern one (where we now were) being a bad lee shore 
in case of a northeast gale, besides having very little 
water, while the southern, though carrying twelve fa- 
thoms over what had long been regarded as an isthmus 
connecting the island of Sagalien with the mainland, 
soon led to patches of banks and shoals over and 
through which only ten feet could be carried, and that 
with the greatest difficulty. He gave us a full descrip- 
tion of the manner in which the Russian squadron had 
escaped the Allies at Castrie's Bay and passed through 
this passage ; and it seems that upon arriving at these 
banks and shoals they had to throw overboard their guns, 
&c., put casks under their larger vessels, and were even 



SLIM RATIONS. 491 

then several weeks in working themselves into the river, 
so often was their progress checked by shoal water. 
They subsequently recovered their guns by means of 
their boats, and were then well fortified in anticipation of 
a visit from the enemy. 

On the whole, he rather seemed to think that the 
southern passage was the best; "for," said he, "even if 
ships cannot enter the river they may anchor off its 
mouth, and discharge and receive cargo by means of flat- 
bottomed boats without such great exposure to northeast 
gales. Then they pass down the Gulf of Tartary to the 
Straits of La Perouse, and are soon in the Pacific." The 
old fellow was evidently trying to set things in the best 
light, doubtless thinking that the war would last for years, 
and that, if we spoke lightly of the difficulties of landing 
cargo when we arrived at San Francisco, ships would be 
more likely to bring them stores. And this reception of 
supplies from California was their only hope, he told us, 
as long as the war lasted, as the resources of the country 
around them consisted almost entirely of berries, fish, the 
flesh of several wild animals, and a few roots. Though 
the soil was fine, they had not had time to plant any 
vegetables, he said, though they hoped to have some 
California potatoes in the ground next spring, until 
which time they must be content with roots instead. 

After getting through with the charts and wine, we 
went on deck, and the captain, pointing to a vessel appa- 
rently at anchor under the dimly-seen shore of Sagalien, 
asked him if he knew what she was, &c. ; but he had been 
at Petropskie so long, he said, that he could not tell any 
thing about her. She had arrived since he left the settle- 



492 THE AMERICAN BARK PALMETTO. 

ment on tlie Amoor, and was probably an American 
bark that had been long looked for with supplies from 
San Francisco. 

"How many fathoms can we carry in a straight line 
from here to where she is anchored?" continued the cap- 
tain. 

"You may steer straight for her and have three fa- 
thoms until within a mile of her, when you will find the 
water shoaling; and you must then keep to the southward 

until she bears , when you may steer again for her. 

You will find her anchored in about three fathoms water, 
though you will have to pass over as little as 'a half two.' 
She has got the best berth for riding out a northeast gale ; 
and you had better anchor near her, as there is a bank 
to seaward that will break the sea and give you a com- 
paratively quiet time." 

We thanked the old fellow for his information, and 
oft'ered to tow him that far on his route; but he had 
the modesty to decline, and we subsequently had cause 
to admire his foresight, for the tide ran so strong as we 
struck out into the stream that the "old John" had as 
much as she could do to drag herself through it. We 
were determined to make him some return for his kind- 
ness, however, and so stuffed his hat and pockets full of 
cheroots and sardines as he went over the side. 

It took us several hours' hard steaming to reach the 
stranger, and there is no telling how much longer we 
might have been had not the flood-tide set in and given 
us a lift. The sun was just dropping behind the lowland 
to the westward as we let go our anchor and lowered a 
boat to board her. She proved to be the American 



"yes! that'll do very well!" 493 

bark Palmetto, of San Francisco, with provisions and 
stores sent by the Eussian consul to his countrymen in 
the Amoor; and she was surrounded by a perfect swarm 
of boats from the Russian men-of-war in that river, who, 
imagining us to be one of the Allied cruisers, took up a 
hasty flight, with both sails and oars. As soon, however, 
as they made out our flag, they seemed to gain courage, 
and, calling a halt, despatched one of their lighter boats 
to take a closer look at us. 

This fellow pulled around us several times, gradually 
lessening the diameter of his circle until he was within 
hail, when the captain bellowed at him through a trum- 
pet to the efiect that we were friends, — ^Americans, — and 
that he had better come alongside. 

"Yes ! That'll do very well !" sang out the officer, in a 
doubting voice, at which there was a burst of laughter 
fore and aft our decks, which, reaching his ears, seemed 
to satisfy him of our friendly nature much better than 
the captain's hail. At any rate, he now pulled up along- 
side of us and came on board, and, after carefully looking 
round the decks for a moment, signalled his companions, 
who at once followed his example. The party was com- 
manded by the captain of the frigate Aurora, and had 
been sent out by the admiral with orders to get the Pal- 
metto into the river if possible; but, as they had now 
been at it some six weeks without making any headway, 
it was difficult to see how they were to succeed. In the 
mean time the northeast-gale season was rapidly ap- 
proaching, and the captain of the Palmetto was, naturally 
enough, getting anxious either to get in or away. We 
remained in company with him three or four days, during 



494 WE EETUKN INTO THE OKOTSK. 

which time we sounded around for miles in search of a 
channel; but, finding that the Russians were evidently 
opposed to our proceedings on account of the existing 
war, the captain finally ceased work, and the next day 
we left them and were well clear of the dangerous 
ground. Before leaving, however, the Russians, appa- 
rently ashamed of the indisposition they had evinced to 
our continuing the survey, ofiered to pilot us through 
into the Gulf of Tartary and fill our bunkers with coal, 
if we would take the Palmetto in tow ; but, as they were 
evidently unable to find water enough even for her, we 
did not see much prospect of their taking our ship, 
which drew a foot more, through in safety. Moreover, 
we could not well have consented had there been oceans 
of water, for the Allies would have had just cause to 
complain of a violation of our neutrality. So we left 
them to their fate and steamed back into the Okotsk. 



CONCLUSION. 

WE COMMENCE OUR HOMBWAED-BOUND VOYAGE AND ARE STOPPED BY A 
NORTHEAST GALE, AFTER WHICH A WESTERLY HURRICANE COMES TO OUR 
ASSISTANCE AND FRIGHTENS THE "OLD JOHN" INTO UNUSUAL ACTIVITY 
— ^WE ARE ATTACKED BY THE SCURVY, ARRIVE AT SAN FRANCISCO, AND 
HEAR VARIOUS KINDS OF NEWS — THE LAST OF THE " OLD JOHN," AND 
AN IDEA OP THE RESULTS OF THE CRUISE. 

It was now the 15tli of September, 1855 ; and, as we 
steamed back into the Okotsk Sea, we rubbed our hands 
and felt as only men can feel who have a hard cruise in 
their rear and the sight of their native land and the joys 
of home in their front. Our work was over, and we were at 
length bound for the longed-for haven of San Francisco. 
We had been a year without even letters from our rela- 
tives, — wanderers along the shores of strange and 
unfrequented lands. 

We had accomplished a vast deal of work during this 
time, — particularly toward the latter part of it. Bad 
charts had been corrected without number, the data for 
new ones obtained, and our continuous line of deep-sea 
and other soundings followed us from ocean to ocean 
like the endless trail of the luminous circle whose broad 
and starry breast meets the upward gaze from every 
longitude. We did what I suppose no vessel ever did 
before : — ^we sounded around the world. 

And now, as we were commencing our homeward- 
bound voyage, with something over a month's provision 
in the ship, with only enough wood and coal in the 

495 



496 ALL HANDS UP ANCHOR FOR HOME ! 

bunkers to last us some ten days, and with our worn-out 
sails and crippled spars to take us the rest of that long 
and weary way, we looked doubtingly ahead at the pros- 
pect of adverse gales, and trembled over the miserable 
ship in which we felt no confidence. We had at least 
four thousand miles to accomplish : we had to work our 
way through the Okotsk Sea, and between the Kurile 
Islands by the "fifty -passage," and finally to cross the 
expansive breast of the North Pacific to San Francisco 
during the stormiest of seasons. "We allowed forty days 
to do all of this in, and determined to steam until we 
had entered the Pacific, and then to save our fuel until 
within a few hundred miles of San Francisco. Thus we 
had to depend upon our sails alone to accomplish the 
intervening distance of over three thousand miles. jS^ow, 
as the reader already knows how the "old John" was 
wont to acquit herself under sail alone, he will readily 
see that we should have starved before reaching our port, 
had she been opposed by headwinds. Fortunately, such 
was not the case : our " broken reed" was again 
strengthened by Him who counts the hairs of our heads 
and notes the fall of the smallest sparrow. 

We had rounded the north cape of the island of 
Sagalien, and were stretching across that portion of the 
Okotsk for the "fifty-passage," when we were met by a 
northeast gale which caused us to fear for the safety of 
the Palmetto and to congratulate ourselves upon our own 
absence from her dangerous anchorage. This gale soon 
blew by, and then we again commenced working for the 
passage. This we reached in a few days, but were un- 



ANOTHER GAME OF " BLINDMAN'S-BUFF." 497 

fortunately encompassed by fogs after the breaking up 
of the gale, so that one stormy evening found us in 
pretty much tbe same dilemma as we had been in a year 
back while running out of the Yellow Sea : we apparently 
had another case of blindman's-buff ahead of us. We 
could not well avoid running, however, for a westerly 
gale was evidently brewing astern, and, were we to heave 
to, we would certainly drift upon the Kuriles as a lee shore. 
Our best chance, therefore, was to continue on our course 
while we still had a fair idea of our position; so we 
crowded on all sail and steam, hoping to enter the 
passage before night. In this we failed ; but, fortunately 
for our peace of mind during the hours of darkness, the 
fog lifted just after sunset and showed us high land on 
our starboard bow ; then it shut in again, night came on, 
and we were more blindfolded than ever. Still, we had 
seen enough. The passing glimpse of a well-marked 
peak had told us that the open channel was ahead of us, 
and beyond that the open ocean : so we kept steadily 
on before the freshening gale, and the next morning at 
daylight were well out on the Pacific : the fog was all 
gone, the Kuriles had sunk below the western horizon, 
and we were now to see no more land until that of Cali- 
fornia should rise over the opposite board. 

During this first day in the Pacific, we were passed by 
several deeply-loaded whalers steering for the Sandwich 
Islands ; and, toward night, the fresh westerly breeze 
before which we had been running for the last two days 
had worked itself into quite a gale, — so, stormy, in fact, 
that we were down to double-reefed topsails before mid- 
night, and the next morning we found it necessary to 



498 HOW A DECK BECOMES A SIEVE. 

reduce sail still further. The following night it had 
increased to a storm, and the day after that found us 
scudding before a fearful hurricane under a close-reefed 
maintopsail and fore storm-staysail. This lasted a week 
or more, and, as we got farther and farther from under 
the lee of the Kurile Islands, it raised a heavy rolling 
sea which threw us ahead at a most glorious rate. It 
was the " old John's" forte, — this thing of running away 
from a gale, — for she was so long that there was not the 
most remote danger of her "broaching to;" and, upon 
the old principle of accomplishing a thing through main 
strength and stupidity, she was often known to travel at 
the rate of twelve knots the hour while thus urged bodily 
before a sea and gale. 

This was all very fine for the first day or two ; but, as 
the hurricane approached its climax, the seas, which had 
hitherto only roared under our flying stern or occasion- 
ally boarded us over either waist, began to tumble in 
over the tafl'rail and warn us of the necessity of batten- 
ing down the hatches. The old ship herself, too, began 
to complain badly about that time. The furious rate at 
w^hich she was being driven ahead, combined with the 
violent spells of rolling which she indulged in about 
every five minutes, and the jarring power exerted by 
the propeller on account of the unusual rate at which 
the ship's speed caused it to revolve, made her decks 
open so much that we might as well have had an ob- 
long sieve overhead. The water came through them 
into our apartments in such quantities as to saturate our 
beds, ruin our books, and keep the lower deck constantl;^ 
afloat. 



"old bust-proof" in trouble. 499 

"Old bust-proof" was particularly unfortunate. His 
master had given him a good oiling, stowed him away 
securely overhead, and then left him to sleep quietly 
through the passage. Alas for human forethought ! his 
double muzzle was elevated higher than the breech : 
water will run down hill, and the consequence may well 
be imagined : upon our arrival at San Francisco he was 
found half full, — irreparably ruined. We looked at him 
and sighed : we feared he would lose all right and title 
to his redoubtable name at the very next discharge. His 
ultimate fate is shrouded in impenetrable mystery. 

I don't think any of the mess will ever forget that 
long, wet, dreary week. I feel it now in the shape of a 
passing rheumatic pain. It was "fear/ii?," as Hartman 
expressed it, when we one morning ate our breakfast 
(luke-warm tea, cold bread, and fried pork) with high 
india-rubber boots on to keep our feet dry. At the end 
of the third day, just as the hurricane was about at its 
height, the captain started the idea of lying to and allow- 
ing it to "blow by." He entertained the very natural 
fear that we should run into the centre of the storm if 
we continued before it any longer, in which case we 
should certainly have foundered with the sea that was 
then running. He and the first lieutenant differed, how- 
ever, as to the nature of the tempest, and it was fortu- 
nately determined to continue scudding. I say " fortu- 
nately," for, in the end, it proved to be the safest as well 
as most comfortable course, and we moreover continued 
logging our two hundred and fifty miles daily toward 
San Francisco, which was in itself a most important fea- 
ture, as the scurvy was by that time making great inroads 



500 WE ARRIVE AT SAN FRANCISCO. 

into our numbers and adding daily to the crowded sick- 
list. 

Finally, we ran into moderate weather, then through 
an ordinary gale, and, in the end, awoke one " fear/k% 
fine mor-r-ning," according to Hartman, to find our- 
selves within a few hundred miles of the land. We then 
got up steam to help our sails, and were so fortunate as 
to enter San Francisco during the night of the 19th of 
October. We found the Yincennes and Cooper both in 
ahead of us by a week or more, and some of their officers 
boarded us that same night to offer their congratulations 
upon our safety and tell us the news of the last ten 
months. It seemed that very grave fears were beginning 
to be entertained for the welfare of our miserable old tub. 

"Who can tell how much we enjoyed those first few 
dsijs in a civilized port? There were our letters of the 
past year to be read, the news of the world to be talked 
over, and some of the finest beef, mutton, and vegetables 
of the world to be attacked : the very recollection of it 
all is glorious. Upon comparing notes as to the accom- 
plishments of the different vessels since our separation? 
it appeared that we had each done more than the other 
two had deemed probable. The Vincennes had touched at 
Petropolowski, skirted the shore of Asia up to Behring's 
Straits, and there left Lieutenant Brooke, Mr. Kern, and 
a boat's crew, to make astronomical observations, while 
she herself pushed on into the Arctic and obtained a 
higher latitude in a northwesterly direction than any pre- 
vious navigator. Finally, she was arrested by vast masses 
of ice, which, combined with the wide-spread existence 
of scurvy among her crew, forced her to return to the 



A PART OF THE VINCENNES'S WORK. 501 

soutliward, after having found blue water where a pre- 
vious English explorer had located high land. She had 
also made many other valuable discoveries, and collected 
material for the construction of charts the want of which 
had been severely felt by whalers for the last few years. 
Returning through Behring's Straits, she picked up the 
astronomical party, and continued her line of deep-sea 
soundings to San Francisco, where she arrived shortly 
before us, with half of her crew disabled from scurvy. I 
quote the following extract in regard to her cruise from 
our late summary to Congress showing what work we 
had accomplished, and asking that we be compensated 
for the unusual service, as was the similar expedition 
which sailed under Wilkes some eighteen years since : — 

" The Vincennes passed up along the coast of Asia, 
(after leaving us at Ha-ko-da-di,) determining prominent 
points and headlands. She then entered Behring's Straits, 
where, on the peninsula of Yerguine on the Asiatic coast, 
among the warlike and barbarous TsehuJdchis, she left a 
party of ten persons for the purpose of making astrono- 
mical, magnetic, and other observations, and to complete 
the survey of the Straits of Seniavine, and to investigate 
the flora and fauna of that country. On leaving that 
place for the IsTorth, the Vincennes had on board but 
three month's wood and provisions. 

" To accomplish the survey in the limited period during 
which the Arctic is open, it was necessary to carry all the 
sail the ship would bear, through fog and mist, thus in- 
curring the danger of wreck on shoals, bergs, or rocks, 
(for the Arctic is not deep.) She visited Herald Island, 
and sailed over the position assigned land claimed to 



502 nARDSHIPS AND EXPENSE. 

have been discovered by H. M. ship Herald. She reached 
a higher point of latitude (72° 05') than was ever before 
attained north of Eastern Asia, and disproved also the 
existence of WrangeU's land in the position assigned it. 

"All that portion of the Arctic available for whaling- 
purposes was carefully explored and sounded. At this 
time, in consequence of the want of provisions and of 
exposure, the scurvy appeared, and the major portion of 
crew and officers was attacked by it. Returning toward 
the straits, an obstinate east wind was encountered, and 
for many days it was doubtful whether the ship would 
make good her escape from the Arctic before the rapidly- 
gathering ice would imprison her,^an event certain to 
result in the destruction of all concerned. 

"Embarking the shore-party, with the valuable results 
of their labours, she sailed for San Francisco, where she 
arrived after a tempestuous passage, and was joined by 
the Hancock and Cooper, bringing the results of their 
extensive surveys. Having communicated with the De- 
partment, the Hancock and Cooper were transferred to 
the navy-yard, and the Yincennes sailed alone, continu- 
ing the work of survey on the route home, where she 
arrived in July, 1856, from Otaheite, having made the 
quickest passage on record. 

" In the execution of these various works, the officers 
and men have been separated from the civilized world 
for periods of ten months at a time ; they have been ex- 
posed to great hardships and dangers not inferior to those 
of war. Many of them have been permanently injured 
by exposure, and all have been impoverished, for the 
ports at which they were obliged to procure supplies for 



A TOUCHING (?) APPEAL TO " THE POWERS THAT BE." 503 

their long voyages were of the most expensive charac- 
ter, — the Cape of Good Hope, Sydney, in Australia. 
Hong-Kong, and San Francisco. 

" With a reduced complement of officers, the labour of 
surveying has been performed, in addition to all the duties 
of actual service at sea, in regions of the most tem- 
pestuous character." 

Thus it will be seen that they had been less fortunate 
even than we of the "old John," as far as fresh provi- 
sions and recreation were concerned ; for, while we had 
met with beef, milk, berries, fish, and turnips in the Bay 
of Taousk, with beef, recreation, and flour at Ayan, and 
with spinach in the shape of wild rhubarb at the Tschan- 
tar Islands, they had been forced to depend solely upon 
the Government-ration of salt beef and pork, and bend 
their constant energies to severe and dangerous labour, 
&c. They were still rubbing their hands and talking of 
the end of work and of the fine California potatoes when 
we arrived. 

And now, reader, if you are so unfortunate as to be 
a member of Congress, I take the liberty of asking you 
to think a moment over these last few pages, and see if 
you cannot reconcile it with your ideas of equity to vote 
for a bill which is now before "your honourable bodies" 
for the relief of the officers and men of the North Pacific 
Surveying and Exploring Expedition ; and, if you decide 
against us, I can only hope that, if you ever find yourself 
on the sea, it may be in just such an old coffin as the 
everlasting "old John." And now for the little Cooper. 

"With this vessel, things seemed to have gone some 
what better: they found an abundance of sweet po- 



504 IMMINENT DANGER OF THE COOPER. 

tatoes at the Aleutian Islands, while surveying their 
rugged shores, and began to think they were going to 
have quite a fine time, when one day they were en- 
countered by a severe gale which came very near casting 
them on shore. They had anchored before its com- 
mencement, and now let go a second anchor; but she 
dragged them both with their chains veered out to the 
bitter ends, — the sea was so very heavy that passed them 
and broke upon the black-looking rocks not more than 
twenty yards astern : they were dragging upon a lee shore. 
The crew became very much alarmed, but were calmed 
by the admirable firmness of their officers, (Lieutenant- 
Commanding Gibson and Lieutenant Kennon,) and, just 
as all hope was about leaving them, they were rejoiced to 
find that the schooner had "brought up." One of the 
anchors, while dragging along the bottom, had caught 
under a rock and arrested them upon the very verge of 
destruction. Their reed also had been strengthened. 

There were three pieces of news which reached us 
that first night, any one of which would have been suffi- 
cient to put any disease but scurvy to an ignominous 
fiight. In the first place, our friends, as a general thing, 
were well. Secondly, a naval retiring board had been 
ordered by Congress, had already acted, and we were 
now " commissioned" instead of " warrant" officers. And, 
lastly, the "old John," whose reputation had at length 
worked its way through the walls of the iN'avy Depart- 
ment, — "iAe old John'' was ordered to be turned over 
to the navy-yard, and such of her officers as were not 
wanted to fill vacancies on board the Vincennes and 
Cooper were to be ordered home over the Isthmus. I 



BOGUS PROMOTIONS AND BOGUS PAY. 505 

say all of this was great news ; but then it was all dark- 
ened by some unpleasant drawback. Our friends were 
mostly well, but many had been confined to the bed of 
sickness. "We had all been promoted, but it was to bogus 
elevations and to bogus pay. Our professional prospects, 
as far as pay and subsistence were concerned, had actu- 
ally been changed for the worse. And this assertion I 
am prepared to prove in the cases of at least two bogus 
promotions out of three, though it is the prevailing 
opinion that the entire " active list" of the navy has been 
immeasurably benefited. And, lastly, the pleasure of our 
cruise, being at an end, was chilled (to one at least) by 
the very unpleasant reflection that he had to pay his own 
expenses home. 

A few days after our arrival, we all went up to the 
navy-yard at Mare Island, when our crew were dis- 
charged or transferred to the Yincennes and Cooper, 
the captain and first lieutenant ordered to the Yin- 
cennes, the rest of us ordered home, and the old tub 
herself turned over to the yard, with the charitable 
warning that "she would be more likely to sink than 
swim if she ever went to sea again." Two of us came 
home by way of Nicaragua, the others via Panama, and 
both parties arrived at ^ew York within a few days of 
each other. "We now scattered to our widely-spread 
homes, — north, south, east, and west, — and after the first 
few days began to look in the papers for any stray notices 
in regard to the movements of the Yincennes and Cooper. 
One day I picked up a paper that was both amusing and 
informing: — the Cooper had also been turned over to the 
yard, the Yincennes was ordered to New York via Cape 



506 THE LAST OF THE "OLD JOHN." 

Horn, and the poor "old John" was again being fitted 
for sea. She was to be sent up to Puget Sound to engage 
in warlike deeds against the Indians, and men were 
found to go in her: our warning had evidently been 
forgotten. Two weeks later I took up another paper: 
there was something more about the everlasting old 
cofiin : she had become restive under strange hands and 
amused herself by blowing out the bottom of one of her 
boilers. Whether they succeeded in patching her up and 
reaching their destination in safety I am unable to say; 
but it is to be hoped that the undertaking was abandoned, 
and that she will be allowed to pass the remnant of her 
days in peace and quiet. And now, as I am about to 
leave her to that doubtful repose, I cannot but acknow- 
ledge a feeling of gratitude toward the shaky old bridge 
which " carried us safely over," in spite of the many 
anxious moments which she caused us during that rough 
and stormy cruise. Farewell to thy miserable but faith- 
ful old timbers ! 

Several months later a rusty and weather-beaten slodp- 
of-war anchored off the ISTew York ISTavy-yard. It was 
the summer of 1856, and the vessel was the Yincennes. 
She brought home with her the remnant of our Expe- 
dition, and a vast amount of matter for the construction 
of charts, the advancement of science, and the enlighten- 
ment of the inquiring mind: she was the grand store- 
house in which had been stowed, from time to time, the 
dearly-bought work of the several vessels that had com- 
posed the squadron. The cruise was at an end, and men 
returned to strange-looking homes, with bent frames that 
had been straight, and with whitened locks that had been 



I RENDER " rEAR-J?'J/i" THANKS, AND MAKE MY BOW. 507 

dark. "Who among those men will again volunteer for a 
surveying and exploring voyage around the world? I 
have but one more remark to add in regard to the 
achievements of the Expedition, and that will give the 
reader a fair idea of the extent of our collections. I was 
informed by Mr. Stimpson, our ISTaturalist, some three 
months since, that he had brought back with him nearly 
jive thousand varieties of animal life — mostly marine — 
which were previously unknown to the scientific world. 
What a vast field is there opened for the naturalist and 
his microscope ! 

And now I have but to dip once more into the ink- 
stand to return my thanks to Messrs. Edward Kern and 
Geo. G. White, of Philadelphia, and to "fear>Z" A. E. 
Hartman, of Dresden, Saxony, for the aid of their able 
pencils in the way of illustrating my very imperfect MSS., 
and to express the hope that Congress may call upon 
Commander John Eodgers, our ci-devant leader, to pre- 
pare an official account of the cruise which shall spread 
the result of our work before the world, and do that 
which it has not been in my power to accomplish in a 
simple narrative of this nature: — i.e. to do justice to an 
undertaking which was originated by the necessities of 
commerce, which has progressed in sileiace, accomplished 
vast results of which little or no notice has been taken, 
(from the fact that we returned during the violent excite- 
ment preceding the late presidential election,) and which 
has not been blown into notoriety by the brazen trumpet 
of an Antony Van Corlear. 

THE END. 



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